IHC seeks arguments to admit intra-court appeal on petrol

Counsel says Ogra had not sent any summary for hike in price of petroleum products

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought further arguments to admit an intra-court appeal against the recent price hike of petrol.

A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asked the petitioner’s counsel to satisfy the court in the next hearing.

Counsel Rao Abdur Raheem appeared before the court on behalf of petitioner Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Mian Muhammad Aslam and adopted the stance that normally a procedure is followed for the increase in the price of petroleum products.

He said that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had not sent any summary for the purpose, while the premier on the request of the finance ministry had approved the hike in the price of petrol.

He further said that the issue of increase in the price of petrol is first raised in the federal cabinet.

“What do the Ogra rules say? Where is the law violated?” Justice Aamir Farooq asked.

The court sought further arguments on the matter and adjourned the hearing of the case.

On June 26, the government had increased the prices of all petroleum products by up to nearly Rs26 to share the impact of rising international prices with the consumers.

The announcement of the fuel prices hike had come unexpectedly as the prices revised in May were to remain in effect until June 30.

The new prices are usually announced on the last day of a month and usually come into effect after 12am for the upcoming month.

In contrast to this practice, the revised prices were announced and went into effect on the same day, taking many consumers by surprise.

In May, the prices of all petroleum products except high-speed diesel had been reduced to partially pass on the impact of massive international price reduction to the masses.

The government had already increased the general sales tax (GST) on all petroleum products to a standard rate of 17% across the board to generate additional revenues.

Until January last year, the government was charging 0.5% GST on LDO, 2% on kerosene, 8% on petrol and 13% on HSD.