The Sindh High Court (SHC) Thursday restrained Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) from collecting Gas Infrastructure Development (GID) Cess over Rs 13 per MMBTU from National Paper Board Mill till further orders.
Justice Munib Akhtar, who headed a single bench, issued this interim injunction on a lawsuit filed by National Paper Board Mill through which it challenged imposition of cess under amendments made to Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Act 2011 through the Finance Act 2014.
The bench issued notice to defendants – secretary law, secretary petroleum and natural resources ministry, secretary finance, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and managing director Sui Southern Gas Company to respond on lawsuit.
The counsel for the plaintiff stated that the federal government had made changes to the GIDC Act 2011 by section 9 of the Finance Act 2014, whereby it imposed cess Rs 13 on the industrial consumers. He said that imposition of cess under the Act was unconstitutional and tantamount to an unlawful delegation of legislative power.
He requested the court to declare demand and collection of cess from the plaintiff under the gas infrastructure development cess was unlawful and unconstitutional. The court was further requested to declare that amendment made to the GDIC Act through Finance Act 2012 based on policy decision of federal government was illegal.
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