Petroleum Products: Ogra asked to explain price-fixing

LAHORE: Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court has sought the record and procedure for fixing the prices of petroleum products from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on a petition in this regard.

Ogra sought time to file the reply as it had engaged new counsel on Thursday. The chief justice sought the details by May 30.

The petitioner had alleged that government departments were making undue profit from petroleum products.

He submitted that consumers were paying double taxes and were being exploited.

He submitted that the government always increased the prices when they went up in the international market, but never reduced them when the prices went down internationally.

He also submitted that the procedure for fixing petroleum prices was opaque.

He submitted that the rapid increase in petroleum price would push inflation to new heights and cause an economic crisis. He asked the court to declare the increase in price illegal.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2013.