The Islama-bad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday restored imposition of surcharge to be included in the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). A two-member IHC bench comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and Justice Anwarul Haq Qadri was hearing a review petition filed by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources against court''s earlier order, which declared the imposition of surcharge in the price of CNG as unlawful.
The court overruled the earlier decision of its single member bench and allowed the collection of surcharge on CNG until a detailed verdict was issued in the matter. A price hike of at least Rs 13.29 would be faced by consumers after court decision. On January 31, a single member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Shaukat A. Siddiqui had declared the imposition of surcharge on the price of CNG as unlawful in response to a petition filed by commercial gas users and CNG station owners. The petitioners pleaded before the court that the gas infrastructure development surcharge (GIDS) was being collected on the pretext of Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project but the project had not yet begun. Therefore, such collection is not justified, according to petitioners.