Salman Akram Raja, the counsel for Ogra, Federal Secretary Petroleum Waqar Masood, Abid Hassan Minto, the counsel for SNGPL and SSGCL Managing Directors, Sindh CNG Association's lawyer Wasim Sajjad and CNG representative Ghiyas Paracha appeared before the bench.
Masood told the bench that during a recent meeting the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet set up a committee under the chairmanship of the federal Law Minister to probe the matter, which reflected the fact that the government had grave concerns over the prevailing CNG pricing crisis. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja maintained that no one would be allowed to make windfall profits and referred to a letter received by the apex court which indicated that CNG station owners were making a profit even on a sale price of Rs 54 per kg.
Admonishing the Ogra, the bench said majority of the CNG station owners were not observing the terms and conditions of their licenses issued by the Authority. Sajjad contended that a crisis had erupted after the Supreme Court directive to slash CNG per kg price on October 25. He prayed the bench to direct Ogra to set the CNG price @ Rs 73 per kg, saying all CNG stations would open up after the confirmation of such a rate by the Ogra. Refusing to intervene in the matter the bench reiterated that it had nothing to do with the CNG price determination job and that it had the judicial power to protect the fundamental rights of consumers.
Minto argued that the company supplied gas while the government fixed the price. He further contended that Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) and leakage due to old pipelines were other factors in raising the cost of gas. Raja stated that the target of 4.5 percent UFG by 2011-12 was set in 2003-04, "which has not yet been achieved." The incidence of UFG at present is over 11 percent.
Justice Khawaja observed that a nexus of CNG station owners and Ogra was readily evident in the issue. The court said it would announce the reserved verdict on Friday (today). Later, CNG representative Ghiyas Paracha told to reporters that the government should reduce gas price and tax. He demanded an end to gas load shedding and an assurance of normal gas pressure. He further said that the SNGPL should reopen CNG stations which, he according to him, were shut down illegally.