Court issues notices to respondents in petition against newly formed fuel crisis committee.

Byline: SHAHID RAO

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday issued notices to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Ministry of Petroleum, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and fuel crisis committee in a petition of an oil marketing company (OMC) against the newly formed fuel crisis committee.

A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice AtharMinallah conducted hearing of the petition challenging the fuel crisis committee and the ongoing crackdown against the OMCs allegedly responsible for a recent fuel crisis.

The IHC bench also directed the respondents to submit their responses in this matter and deferred the hearing till June 25.

During the hearing, Justice Athar observed that both OGRA and FIA were included in the committee then how would they look into the matter at the later stage.

The petitioner's counsel informed the court that the federal minister constituted this committee on June 8 for the action against hoarding of petrol. He adopted that under the OGRA Ordinance, the federal minister could not constitute such a committee.

He continued that OGRA is a regulatory body and it could take action as per the prescribed procedure in this matter. He added that FIA was included in the committee to harass the OMCs and it is also illegal. Similarly, he also opposed the inclusion of PSO in the committee saying that its presence in the committee is equal to conflict of interest.

In the petition, the OMC requested the court to set aside the Ministry of Petroleum's June 8 and 9 notifications, announcing governmental actions against...