News
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
LPG quota awardOrders issued to initiate cases against marketing firms
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has informed the Supreme Court (SC) that he had instructed the Petroleum Ministry as well as Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to refer the cases of 15 marketing companies, which were doled out LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) quota in a non-transparent manner in 2004, to the relevant investigation agency.
It is to be noted that PML-N leader Khawaja Asif had challenged the 2003 grant of LPG Extraction Plant licence to Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL) in a non-transparent manner. During the hearing on Tuesday, the federal minister told the SC that he had written a letter to the Petroleum Ministry as well as the OGDCL to initiate cases against these marketing companies, therefore, the name of these companies be deleted from the petition especially when they were also not being represented in the court.
He explained that in case the Supreme Court held the JJVL deal illegal, the snowball effect of the order would automatically render these companies to lose the quota. The names of companies which will face inquiries are Aftab Traders, Agha Gas, Balochistan Minerals, Bolan Gas, Cress LPG, Gas Man, Links International, Muhammadi Gas, Noor LPG, Petroleum Gas, Petrosin Gas, Power Gas, Pro Gas, Ravi Gas and Synergy Gas.
The minister stated that now the OGDCL will pursue cases against these companies instead of him. The court directed Khwaja Muhammad Asif to furnish a statement explaining that which partition of his petition would not be pressed by him in the current matter.
Referring to the other 28 companies who were also awarded LPG quota from 2004 to 2008, the Supreme Court said it would provide opportunity to these companies to present their point of view in the court. Many of these companies are already represented in the court through their counsel. They are Messers Jamal A Ansari, Zia A Ansari and Razia A Ansari of the Akbar Associates, given quota in 2004, Messers Shama Hafeez, Shabhum Mallal of the Alpha Bas (2004), Messers Marian Ahsan Maqbool, Ahsan Latif of the Awami Gas (2004), Messers Muhammad Shareef, Tariq Naeem, Khalid Naeem and Shafqat Naheed of the Cres Gas (2006), Messers Shahbaz A Khan, Aftab A Khan and Naveen Khan of the Golden Gas (2004), Husnanin Shafqat of the Home Gas (2008), Messers Moeen Saleem Rana of the Kirn Gas (2004), Messers Ijaz Muhammad Khan, Shafqat A Khan, Rana Nisar A Khan of the Links International (2005), Messers Iqbal Z Ahmed, Qazi Humayun Fariq of the Lub Gas (2004), Messers Sayyed Asghar A Shah, Syed Asif A Shah, Syed Muhammad Ali of the Martial Gas, Messers Iqbal Z Ahmed, Qazi Humayun Fariq of the Mehran Gas (2004), Mesers Mir Hussain Raza, Nilofer Ali Raza, Nisar AKA Hussain, Saeeda Ali, Alizah Raza of MNA Energy (2006), Messers Bilal Jabbar, Nadia Fatima Jabbar of the Noor LPG (2005), Messers Rehmat Khan, Fauzia Khan, Ahmed Umer Khan of the OK Gas (2007), Messers Pervaiz Kausar, Jalees A Siddiqui, Muhammad Iqbal Awan, Istaqbaal Mehdi of the PSO (2007), Messers Amir Shahid and Saira Amir of the Petro LPG (2008), Messers Farida Tariq, Mustafa Hameed, Mujtaba Hameed of the Petroleum Gas (2005), Messers Khurram Khan, Kiran Baig of the Pioneer Gas (2005), Messers Burhanud Din Haider, M Ali Haider of the Power Gas (2004), Messers Muhammad Farooq Azam and Fauzia Azam of the Pyramid Gas (2006), Messers M Sadiq Tariq Naeem, A Saeed, Shoaib Ahmad of the Ravi Gas (2006), Messers Bushra Aitzaz Ahsan of the Sam Gas (2005), Messers Ishtiaq Asif, Naila Ishtiaq, Talha Asif of the Sehwan Gas (2006), Messers Yawar Abbas Madni, Rizwan Abbas Hussain Ali of the Sindh Gas (2006), Messers Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal, Chaudhry Amanat Ali of the Super Star Gas (2004), Messers Ahsan Latif, Ahmer Latif of the Synergy Resources (2004), Messers Farooq Akhtar, M Ahmad Bukhari of the Tez Gas (2004) and Messers Ryda Nabeel Nawaz, Humera M Hafeez of the Wyne Gas (2005).
In his petition Khawaja Asif had alleged that the LPG extraction contract was awarded to the sole bidder JJVL at the behest of former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in 2003 that caused a huge loss to the national exchequer.
For the last 30 years, the allocation of quotas for LPG is being misused by successive governments only to oblige certain individuals or companies instead of auctioning the same through a transparent manner, the petition pleaded. The hearing of the case was adjourned until tomorrow (Thursday).
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk