Case hearing: Court stops levy of RLNG surcharge on K-P industry

Order comes after Sarhad Chamber challenged the surcharge

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday issued a stay order against the imposition of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) surcharge on industrial and commercial consumers by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The order came after the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry - a body of industrialists - challenged the surcharge in the court, terming it injustice.

SNGPL had started collecting the RLNG surcharge from March through electricity bills of industrial and commercial consumers, which the industrialists of the province considered a violation of Article 158 of the Constitution.

Article 158 says "a province in which a wellhead of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting requirements from that wellhead, subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day."

"It (the surcharge) cannot be applicable to K-P consumers as the province is producing more gas than its consumption," counsel for the petitioner, Shumail Ahmad Butt, told the court.

He emphasised that K-P had its own gas and it did not need RLNG for running industries, adding the province that was utilising RLNG should only be charged for it.

A two-judge bench of the PHC comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali heard arguments of the petitioner and issued the stay order against the levy of RLNG surcharge.

It also issued a notice to SNGPL, asking it to explain the issuance of a notification for imposing the surcharge by the next hearing of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2018.

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