Gas price hike for industries suspended

PHC orders SNGPL to submit reply at next hearing

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court has suspended the increase of gas prices for textile mills and asked SNGPL to respond by the next hearing of the case.

A two-member bench, comprising Justices Ejaz Anwar and Syed Arshad Ali, heard petitions filed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association against the increase in gas tariff. During the hearing, Advocate Shamail Ahmed Butt, the petitioner's lawyer, told the court that on the advice of the federal government, OGRA increased gas prices for textile mills and other industries.

He told the court that any increase in tariff should be based on annual tariff determination of the regulator ie OGRA. He pointed out that the authority had earned more than its revenue needs and should be passing on the benefit to consumers.

"OGRA had, in fact, proposed a reduction in tariff by Rs179 per mmbtu for all categories." He further told the court that instead of granting this relief, the federal government increased rates from Rs 2,750 per mmbtu to Rs 3,000 for captive power producers without a legal basis.

The deputy attorney general opposed the writ petition and any kind of interim relief, saying that the federal government wants to discourage captive power producers. The bench inquired whether any provisions in the Ogra Ordinance 2002 allowed the federal government to take such actions, but none were found.

After hearing the arguments, the court ordered SNGPL to file a reply and declared that tariff would be collected at the rate which stood on November 2023.

Meanwhile, the PHC suspended the decision of the Registrar Cooperative Societies to appoint a caretaker committee for the Peshawar University Staff Cooperative Housing Society, and has ordered the executive committee to continue working.

The two-member bench of Justices Ejaz Anwar and Arshad Ali issued interim orders on a petition filed by the society through senior lawyer Roohul Amin.