SC overturns PM’s order

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed off the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Suo Moto case.

In its detailed sixteen page judgment, the SC expressed the hope that Prime Minster Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani will launch an investigation and probe the LNG matter further. The three-member bench, headed by the Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghullam Rabbani impeded Special Secretary of Petroleum Ministry G A Sabri from being associated with the project.

Secretary Petroleum Kamran Lashari has been directed by the SC to deal with the matter himself in accordance with the laws of Pakistan. The SC has directed the ministry of petroleum to put up a fresh summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for inviting new bids for the importing of 3.5 million tons of LNG and awarding the contract to a competent company. S M Zafar said on behalf of the government that the decision of ECC of February 9, 2010, stands cancelled and the party benefitting from this, which is GDF Suez will have no claim based on the decision.

However, the Mashal Project will continue and 4Gas, which has been approved by the consultant, will be the developer for that project, responsible to build the terminal, storage and re-gasification plant, and maintain the supply of LNG. 4Gas had initially given the name of GDF Suez as the would-be supplier. This issue of GDF SUEZ being the supplier will now be revisited and a new summary will be presented to the ECC.