August 07, 2008	Thursday	Sha’aban 4, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 6: The petroleum minister mistakenly announced a 33.28 per cent increase in the compressed natural gas price at his press conference on June 30 and the mistake was exploited by the CNG station owners to charge Rs51 instead of Rs43 per kilogram, the petroleum ministry said in its comments on a petition agitating overcharging by the dealers.

Retail CNG price fixation does not fall within the federal government’s purview, the comments, submitted through Deputy Attorney-General Umar Hayat Sindhu said, prompting the petitioner-lawyer, Javaid Ahmed Chhatari, to assert that his allegation stood proved and that the CNG dealers should not only be required to refund the excess amount but also be prosecuted for extortion.

Under Section 8 (1) of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, the ministry said in its comments, the authority is empowered to determine the revenue requirements of the gas utility companies for each financial year and advise the federal government the prescribed price for each category of consumers. The CNG stations are treated as category of consumers and the price paid by them to the gas companies is called ‘input price’. The CNG stations add not only government taxes to the input price but also their operating cost, overhead expenses, and profit margin. The ultimate price fixation by the stations is unregulated, it said.The revenue requirement determined by Ogra for the Sui Northern and Sui Southern Gas Companies was Rs280. 67 billion while the previous prices could only generate Rs219.11 billion, causing a cumulative shortfall of Rs61.56 billion. To meet the shortfall, Ogra increased the prescribed prices for SNGPL by 29 per cent to 289.96 MMBTU and for the SSGPL by 26.8 per cent to 279.98 MMBTU.

The new prices were announced by petroleum minister-incharge Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a press conference June 30. ‘Volleys of questions were posed by the newsmen about the resulting hike in per kilo price of the CNG during the conference’ and the minister inadvertently estimated the increase in per kilo price to be of the order of Rs13. The CNG station owners, instead of waiting for the appropriate notification, ‘took undue advantage of the mistake and increased the price by Rs13 instead of the actual increase of Rs 5.33 per kilo’, the ministry said.

The ministry took prompt action and prevented the stations from overcharging and also decided that in the future the fixation of the retail price would be the job of Ogra. The comments agreed to the petitioner’s contention that Rs3.25 per kilo is being charged by the gas stations as their operating expenditure.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Justice Khalid Ali Z. Qazi adjourned the hearing to August 8 for arguments.

Couple’s safety

The bench ordered that a couple allegedly facing the threat of being killed as ‘karo kari’ be lodged at the police headquarters at Garden, Karachi, as requested by them. Mst Saira Jatoi and Mohammad Ismail Soomro were escorted to the headquarters by police. They were also ordered to be produced on every date of hearing. Notices were issued to the respondents for August 20.

Mst Jatoi submitted through Advocate Shafqat Shah Masoomi that she and Ismail married of their own free will about a year ago. A jirga organized by Abid Hussain Jatoi declared them ‘karo kari’. They were saved by police but they still faced threats from their tribes. Ismail’s relatives were also being threatened.

Advocate Masoomi submitted that adjudication of cases involving criminal offences had already been declared illegal by the high court and the couple should be provided protection to enable them to lead a normal life.

Notices to secretaries

The bench also issued notices to the provincial secretaries for finance and communication and works for August 7 to explain why a contractor was not being paid his dues.

M/s Javed Brothers complained that they carried out repair and maintenance work at the Civil Hospital, the Lyari General Hospital and government building at Bath Island and Shadman Town. His bill was accepted and a cheque for Rs4.6 million was issued by the office concerned. However, the cheque was not being honoured by the treasury as ‘no funds were available for payment’.