SC sets aside LHC decision challenged by SNGPL

LAHORE: The Supreme Court Tuesday set aside a decision of the Lahore High Court which restrained the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL) from taking action against textile industries for using gas to produce electricity.

The SNGPL had issued notices to various industrial consumers to stop operating gas generators on industrial gas connections which were challenged before the LHC by a group of 65 industrial units forming “All Pakistan Textile Exporters Association”. The LHC allowed the petitions on the basis of a judgment commonly known as “Bulley Shah judgment” rendered by the LHC and upheld by the Supreme Court.

The SNGPL filed the appeal before the apex court challenging the LHC decision pleading that the Bulley Shah judgment had been misconstrued as the same pertained to applicability of tariff on general industrial connections and those having captive power generation whereas the instant matter pertained to the use of gas.

Representing the company’s appeal, advocate Anwaar Hussain argued before the court that the use of gas was a contractual matter which fell out of the scope of judicial review under Article 199 of the Constitution, which defined the jurisdiction of a high court. He said the industries could not use the gas for any purpose other than mentioned in the contract.

The lawyers of the industries and the association failed to satisfy the apex court on the maintainability of their petitions before the high court. A two-judge bench comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, at the Lahore Registry, allowed the appeal by the SNGPL and set aside the impugned verdict with an observation that the petitions filed by the respondents/industries before the LHC were not maintainable.