SHC serves notices on plea against POL price hike

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the ministry of petroleum, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and others on a petition against the recent increase of 6.45 per cent in petroleum products prices.

The petitioner, Maulvi Iqbal Haider, submitted in the petition on Wednesday that the federal government had increased petroleum products prices by up to 6.45 per cent, which was unlawful and in violation of various articles of the Constitution.

He said that the increase in the petroleum products prices was unjust as the government had already increased general sales tax on all petroleum products across the board to the standard rate of 17 per cent to generate additional revenue.

He submitted that the government was competent to impose taxes on general public but it was subject to the approval of Parliament by way of an act of Majlis-e-Shoora, as it happened when the annual budget was approved, but the government in violation of the scheme of the constitution had submitted a mini-budget in March 2019 and imposed taxes on the general public.

According to the petitioner, prices of all necessary items with regard to lives of the common people had automatically increased due to the unjustified increase in petroleum products’ prices and people belonging to lower income groups had to bear maximum brunt of such inflation.

The SHC was requested to declare the increase in prices of all petroleum products by up to 6.45 per cent and the imposition of tax on such an increase to be unjust and unlawful and direct the government to recall the notification with regard to the increase in petroleum products’ prices. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, after preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the ministry of petroleum, Ogra and others and called their comments on April 24.

PTI petition

The SHC directed a counsel for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to satisfy the court on the maintainability of a PTI’s petition in which it had challenged the non-inclusion of pre-budget debate in the business of assembly, terming it a violation of the Rule 143 of Provincial Assembly of Sindh’s rules and procedure.

The petition had been filed by PTI MPA Syed Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who is also currently the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly. He submitted in the petition that the provincial ministry of law and parliamentary affairs neither included in the list of business the pre-budget discussion nor adhered to positive obligation imposed upon it by the rules of procedure of the Sindh Assembly to seek proposal from the petitioner or from other members of the assembly.

Naqvi submitted that as per Rule 143, it was incumbent upon the government to call for a pre-budget discussion and conduct a general discussion during the assembly’s session between January and March each year to seek proposals from the members of the assembly regarding the budget.

He submitted that the pre-budget debate for the fiscal year of 2019-2020 was meant to take place between months of January and March 2019; however, the respondents had intentionally not included the pre-budget debate in the business of the assembly.

The opposition leader submitted that the government acted mala fide by not allowing the debate to take place and putting the issue of public importance on the back burner.

The SHC was requested to declare the act of the Sindh government against the statutory requirements in the Rule 143 (1) to be illegal and issue a writ of mandamus whereby asking the respondents to act in accordance with the rules stipulated in the rules of procedure of the Sindh Assembly and conduct pre-budget session as per the Rule 143.