PESHAWAR, April 6: Accepting a writ petition, the Peshawar High Court on Friday stopped supply of gas and oil from Shakardara and Gorguri gas and oil fields in the NWFP to Punjab and other parts of the country.

The court issued notices to the federal government, OGDCL and the Sui Northern Gas Company to appear in the court for comments.

The two-judge bench, comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Dost Mohammad Khan, admitted the petition under Article 158 of the Constitution.

Kohat District Nazim Gohar Saifullah and 44 tehsil and union council nazims had challenged the supply of natural gas and oil from Shakardara gas and oil fields in Kohat district and Gorguri gas and oil fields discovered in Karak district.

The petitioners claimed that under the law, the government should provide gas to districts where it was discovered and after fulfilment of local requirements it should be supplied to other parts of the country.

They said that the natural gas and oil produced from oil fields were directly supplied to other parts of the country and mostly to Kala Shah Kako factories in Lahore while residents of districts had been deprived of the natural gas.

Advocate Syed Iftikhar Gillani, who appeared for the petitioners, said that the government was committing a clear violation of the article 158 of the Constitution.

He requested to the bench to impose Rs500,000 fine on the federal government, OGDCL and Sui Northern Gas Company as they have failed to submit their comments in the case.

The court after detailed arguments gave an interim relief to the petitioners and restrained the government from further supply of the gas and oil from the fields till the next order.

Justice Dost Mohammad Khan observed: “The dilemma is that our parliamentarians are not doing their job properly. If they took interest in the public problems then such issues would not come to the courts.”

There are three gas and oil fields in Shakardara bordering to Punjab’s Mianwali district from which gas was supplied to other parts of the country and crude oil were transferred through oil tankers to the Attock Refinery Company.

Similarly, gas and oil was also supplied from the Gorguri gas and oil plants to other parts of the country.

According to the petitioners, the federal government had inked an agreement with the NWFP government to provide gas to areas of the two districts by December 2006, and rest of the province gradually.

However, the government had provided gas to about 120 houses in Gorguri village in 2007, and deprived rest of the districts of their constitutional right.—PPI