ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday directed the ministry of petroleum and natural resources and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) to supply uninterrupted gas to the CNG stations in Islamabad for three days a week.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui passed these directions while hearing a contempt petition filed by 77 CNG station owners against the SNGPL officials for not allowing them to operate despite the court directions.

On December 20, Justice Siddiqui had suspended a notification issued on December 2 for an indefinite suspension of natural gas to the CNG stations.

The petroleum ministry and the SNGPL, however, challenged the stay order in the IHC on December 23, saying it had caused great inconvenience to the distribution company. It said domestic and commercial consumers were suffering as the gas pressure was very low in the winter. Domestic and commercial consumers are on top of the priority, it added.

According to documents submitted to the court by the SNGPL officials, the domestic consumers in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad needed 100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) gas in the summer. During the winter season, the demand increases to 280 mmcfd. The statistics suggested that total requirement of the domestic consumers along with the CNG sector was 400 mmcfd in the winter.

Hafeezullah Yaqub, the SNGPL counsel, told the court that it was not possible for the distribution company to supply gas to the domestic consumers due to the shortfall of over 120 mmcfd. He said there was no mention of an uninterrupted supply of gas to the CNG sector in the terms and conditions set for the filling stations.

“In case the CNG station owners are aggrieved of any decision by the SNGPL, they can approach the relevant forum - the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) - for redress,” said the counsel.

The CNG station owners, however, complained to Justice Siddiqui that the SNGPL officials had also removed the meters from some of the filling stations in the city.

Mir Aurangzeb, the counsel for the petroleum ministry, contended that because of the acute shortage of gas the government had decided to suspend supply to the CNG sector during the extreme cold weather. Under the Natural Gas Allocation and Management Policy 2005, it is the right of the domestic consumers to get the supply on a priority basis, he maintained.

He said gas loadshedding to the domestic sector would result in street protests whereas car owners could fill their tanks with the alternative fuel such as petrol and diesel.

He informed the court that the federal government did not flout the court orders as after the issuance of the stay order the distribution company had sold Rs50 million mmcfd gas to the CNG stations. The meters were removed from only those filling stations that had defaulted on payment or violated certain rules, he clarified.

The court also ordered the SNGPL to reinstall the meters within two days except for the defaulters and violators of rules.