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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as Minister Incharge Cabinet Division has reportedly given his approval to refer Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) licences scam to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after getting a formal approval from the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, sources close to Petroleum Minister told Business Recorder.
Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had converted 1481 provisional CNG stations licences into marketing licences during a PPP government in violation of a ban and rules. However, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources (MoP&NR) is resisting the move, arguing that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is already investigating the issue on the instructions of the court, the matter does not warrant further probe as proposed by the Cabinet Division.
Official documents available with Business Recorder reveal that a summary for the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet was submitted by the Cabinet Division with a proposal that there is a need to conduct a thorough probe into 1481 cases where provisional licences were converted into marketing licences by Ogra. During an ECC meeting held on April 17, 2014, Secretary Petroleum opined that since the case is subjudice, the proposed action may involve legal complications. The ECC deferred the consideration of the summary and directed that "views/comments of the Law and Justice Division and MoP&NR on the issue may be obtained and submitted for consideration of the ECC in its next meeting".
Accordingly, views of concerned stakeholders were sought. The Law Division argued that Supreme Court had observed that the grant of licences to various CNG stations that were prima facie unauthorizedly issued from time to time is de-linked, but this aspect of the case is to be heard along with the case of implementation in the case of appointment of Tauqir Sadiq (Muhammad Yasin Vs Federation of Pakistan PLD 21 SC 132). The matter shall decide on the basis of evidence recorded by FIA independently; however, the apex court directed the FIA to handover the relevant record to NAB where already proceedings of Tauqir Sadiq are pending.
The Law Division further stated that the matter pertaining to the issuance of NoCs for new CNG stations by OGRA despite the ban imposed by the government was again examined and the OGRA further provided a list of 1481 cases where provisional licences were converted into marketing licences by OGRA in violation of ban and rules.
The matter is said to be similar to what is already being considered by the SC in a suo motu case and directed the FIA to probe the 144 cases in which Ogra had converted provisional licences into marketing licences in violation of ban and rules. Supreme Court in the suo motu case (1/2013) had earlier directed FIA to pick 25 cases at random (5 each from provinces and Islamabad) and investigate violations. These cases are also included in the list of 1481 CNG stations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014

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