Provision of gas, jobs to local people: Federal, Sindh govts asked to explain CCI decisions

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to Federal and Sindh Governments to explain about the decisions of Council of Common Interests (CCI) viz-a-viz provision of gas to the localities, falling in the radius of five kilometers of gas fields in the province.

A division bench of the SHC comprised of Justice K K Agha and Justice Omar Sial also appointed senior lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan as amicus curiae to explain about the legal status of the CCI decisions while hearing the petition pertaining to provision of gas to the areas in the surroundings of gas fields and recruitments of local people.

Sindh Government had submitted in the court that the provision of gas in the radius of five kilometers of gas fields is incumbent upon the oil & gas companies, which was countered by federal government, which contended that no such law exists under the decisions of the CCI. The court ordered both federal and provincial governments to submit the legal arguments on their respective stances in the next hearing of the case on December 9, 2019.

In the last hearing, the court in its written order observed, "Is a decision of the CCI legally binding? If so how can a decision of the CCI be enforced? And through what means? The court is hearing the petition of Roshan Ali Lakhan for implementation of the apex court's directives on provision of jobs to local people in the gas fields of Sindh.

Earlier, the court summoned Managing Director (MD) Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to appear in person in next hearing to inform the court about the recruitment of local people in its gas fields.

The court sought the details of employees of the company in Sindh as how many are locals and non-locals. During the hearing, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) submitted the details of its employees in Sindh and informed the court that 83 percent of the employees in the labour category belong to Sindh.

Likewise, 69 percent of the employees in lower grade posses Sindh domicile whereas five-four percent of senior management staff also belong to the province.

The court expressed concern over the low representation of Sidnh on the key posts and directed the management of the PPL to appoint the persons having provincial domicile on the senior posts.

The court also directed the Director General (DG) Petroleum Concessions (PC) to submit the details of the employees of all oil & gas companies in the court in the next hearing. The court also sought the ratio of local and non-local in the staff of oil & gas companies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019