The LPG Association (LPGA) had petitioned the court against Ogra’s drive to check profiteering by LPG companies and shopkeepers. The petitioner had challenged a notification issued on December 8 regarding the maximum sale price of LPG, which industry sources say was capped below the cost price – forcing importers to cancel their shipments. This in turn had led to companies rationing their supply to distributors as they coped with only limited local supplies to back them.
“The country is facing a massive shortage of LPG due to the temporary closure of Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited, Pakistan’s largest private producer of LPG, whose plant caught fire and has been shut down for maintenance” Belal Jabbar, the spokesman for the LPGA, said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The LPGA said they had earlier challenged a notification issued by Ogra on July 5, after which the regulator had promised the LHC on November 26 that it will not issue a fresh notification till the matter was sub judice. Meanwhile, the court had appointed a chartered accountant to determine the maximum sale price of the gas. However, before the fate of the July notification could be decided, Ogra issued a fresh notification on December 8 forcing companies and shopkeepers to sell LPG for Rs125 per kilogramme.
The LPGA said that personnel designated by the authority were now raiding companies and shops to ensure that LPG was being sold at the new price, which was in violation of court directions. They requested the court to take notice and stop Ogra from such ‘coercive’ activities.
“The LPG companies will seek contempt charges against Ogra for violating its undertaking, and have bought the issue to the notice of the Lahore High Court,” said Jabbar. The LPGA also complained that the new notification was issued without consulting distribution companies and other stakeholders.
After hearing the matter, Justice Ijazul Ahsan forbade Ogra from conducting any more raids till December 18. He also sought a reply from the authority and other respondents regarding the allegations made by the LPGA.
WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ZAFAR BHUTTA
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2012.
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