THE Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) bills for the months of April and May, besides the regular charges and taxes, show an ‘Additional Gas Security Deposit’ (GSD), which is calculated on the basis of ‘gas consumption pattern for the preceding financial year, held equivalent to three months’ consumption’. As per the bills, the Additional GSD is refundable on termination of the gas supply contract, which of course is never going to happen, practically speaking.

The legality of the matter is that any security deposit is a one-time affair, and cannot be collected as a regular levy; refundable or non-refundable. Moreover, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGP) has not added any such levy.

Apparently, after failing to have the tariff substantially increased, SSGC has coined a weird way to enhance its revenue by charging the Additional GSD. This is nothing but a daylight robbery on the part of SSGC. The relevant authorities should take notice of this highhandedness.

Manzoor Hussain Kureshi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2021