Petroleum prices: Petition against increases submitted to court

‘If prices continue to rise, people will start committing suicide’.

KARACHI:

A petition was filed in the Sindh High Court on Friday, challenging the increase in petroleum prices.

It is likely to be admitted and fixed for hearing on Tuesday. The petitioner, Maulvi Iqbal Haider, had filed a similar petition earlier on but had withdrawn it when the prices went down. He has, however, gone back to court to question under what authority the government announces an increase every month, instead of as part of the annual budget.

The petitioner maintains that if the price of petroleum products keeps on increasing every month, the number of people who would be attempting suicide would also increase to an unexpected level.

He argued that the government policy of pegging the local prices of petroleum products to those in the international market was not permissible under the Constitution and the rules of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority.

The government proposes an annual budget with a stock for the whole year. It is supposed to meet all exigencies within this limit, he said. The monthly increases are tantamount to presenting mini budgets every month, the petitioner submitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd,  2011.