Ahead of review: Court orders FIA to seize full record of new CNG licences

Expresses dissatisfaction with Ogra official’s response; gives FIA DG till today to submit all documents.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Federal Investigation Agency Director General Saud Mirza to immediately take possession of all Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) files and records pertaining to the issuance of licences for new CNG stations under the previous government.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, also directed the FIA chief to complete the exercise by April 13 (today) and submit the complete set of documents to the court so that it may review them before the next hearing.

During the proceedings, the bench expressed dissatisfaction with the response of Ogra Executive Director Operations Moazzam Hussain.

Appearing before the court, Hussain contradicted reports that stated 1,471 new licences had been issued since the ban on new CNG stations had been imposed in 2008. He claimed the actual number of licences issued after the ban was 525. The Ogra official added that these licences had been issued since applicants had obtained no-objection certificates for them prior to the imposition of the ban.

Hussain told the court that so far only 250 files pertaining to the new licences had been traced owing to a shortage of time. Despite being upset with this response, the bench deferred any action against the Ogra official for failing to comply with the court directive.

During the last hearing, the bench had directed Ogra and the petroleum secretary to submit attested copies of documents pertaining to the issuance of 1,471 licences for new CNG stations, along with details of the authorities that issued the licences.

Meanwhile, appearing before the court on Friday, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Secretary Abid Saeed explained the relaxation policy regarding the granting of licences for the import of CNG kits and cylinders. Saeed said the summary for the ban on the import of CNG kits and cylinders moved on December 15, 2011 and the ban was imposed on December 26, 2011. He added that following protests by importers who had already placed orders for these items, the ban was relaxed till December 31, 2011.

The bench directed the secretary to provide copies of summaries approved by then caretaker prime minister Mian Muhammad Soomro on January 13, 2008, and former premiers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on September 22, 2011 and March 12, 2013 respectively. The secretary, however, sought some time to place the relevant documents and the names of importers who benefitted from the relaxation policy on record.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.