HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit on Wednesday issued notices to the federal petroleum secretary, secretary of the provincial transport authority (PTA) Sindh, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), Sindh secretary transport and others, directing them to appear in court on Nov 27.

The bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Khadim Hussain M. Shaikh, also issued notices to the Hyderabad commissioner, deputy commissioners of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar and Badin, and secretary of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) on a joint petition filed by 13 owners of CNG filling stations.

The plea challenged the notices issued by the deputy commissioners of various districts, restraining them from filling CNG in public transport “failing which their licences shall be cancelled without further notice”.

According to the petitioners — Al Madina traders and others — Ogra had issued licence to them in line with Rule 7 of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) (Production and Marketing) Rules 1992 to install and operate CNG stations for storage, filling and distribution of CNG in automotive vehicles.

They said the Ogra rules nowhere allowed room for the DC to cancel license or to deal with affairs, nor he could cancel licence.

The letter of the DC and notification of transport secretary were illegal, considering the fact that petitioners were holding lawful licences and were entitled to run all permitted activities in their CNG stations.

They prayed to the court to declare that the petitioners could not be prevented from doing lawful activities, including refilling of CNG in automotive vehicles.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017