The Supreme Court on Friday admitted a petition for regular hearing against the implementation agreement between Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) and Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) extraction plant.
The court also summoned secretary petroleum to appear before the court along with papers of the agreement on next date of hearing and decided to conduct the proceedings on day-to-day basis from February 10. SSGCL and JJVL have been issued notices as well.
A four-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Javed Iqbal comprising Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, was hearing the petition, filed by PML-N lawmakers Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Barjees Tahir and Abid Sher Ali against the implementation agreement.
Khawaja Muhammad Asif informed the court that SSGCL inked the agreement with JJVL violating the rules in a very non-transparent manner, setting a unique precedence of nepotism. He said according to Pakistan Contract Act, the LPG extraction contract signed between SSGCL and JJVL to be declared null and void, as it is based on mala fide intention. He said some LPG companies had formed a consortium namely JJVL only to abuse the market through monopoly in LPG trade, despite that, the government had guaranteed extension in the agreement to JJVL beyond February 3, 2011.
The petitioners contended that in view of the above stated facts, the apex court must issue directives to SSGCL not to renew JJVL contract as through monopoly, it will abuse the market and earn windfall profit. The court on solid arguments by the petitioners accepted the plea for regular hearing and issued notices to the concerned parties to be present in the court on next hearing. The apex court adjourned the hearing till February 8.
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