The Balochistan High Court (BHC) issued contempt of court notices to secretary energy, chairman and director general (Gas) Ogra and 25 top brass of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) for willful defiance of court directives over uninterrupted gas supply, manhandling the applicants and failure to establish consumers grievance redressal mechanism since a long.
The court also suspended operation of a notification from January 2023 till further orders regarding the SSGCL tariff in addition to imposed bar on private contractors of the company from removal of domestic consumer meters without notices, issuing heavy amount provisional bills without conducting meters.
The bench also sought a comprehensive report from MD SSGCL pertaining to reasons why despite having a gas in the main distribution, the inhabitants of the province have been deprived of natural gas supply.
Besides, the court also asked chief secretary and governor Balochistan to take up the issue with the prime minister and the federal cabinet at the earliest to fulfil constitutional obligation under Article 158 which stipulates that the province in which a well-head of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from that well-head, subject to the commitments and obligations as on the commencing day.
“We are unable to comprehend why the officials of public enterprises are running the enterprises as their private business or they are posing themselves as rulers instead of servants of the state and citizens of Pakistan. The afore stated facts, figures and circumstances altogether bring us to a conclusion that the SSGCL is no more left as a state-owned enterprises, rather they are working as a foreign invaders or as a subsidy of the East India Company, who are just looting the citizens of the Pakistan on pretext of revenue collection and financial fixes”, says BHC Justice Mulakhail
A divisional bench of the BHC comprising Justices Muhammad Kamran Khan Mulakhail and Sardar Ahmed Haleemi issued the directives in response to a plea of Syed Nazir Agha Advocate, seeking court’s intervention for strong institutional arrangements to protect the fundamental rights.
The petitioner has urged the court’s directives to National Highways Authority (NHA), Cantonment Board Quetta (CBQ) and Metropolitan Corporation Quetta (MCQ) to ensure immediate filling up patches and trenches followed by blacktopping soon after handing over the site by the SSGC’s contractor.
Issuing notice in the matter the bench said in its order, “We are dismay to painfully observe, which is unfortunate at least to say, that time and again the orders were passed, but no heed was paid, which left us with no other option, but to issue contempt of court notices to all concerned officers of the SSGC, Ministry of Petroleum, Oil & Gas Development Authority with clear understanding that why a contempt of court proceeding shall not be initiated against them for willful defiance of the court’s orders”.
Expressing grave dismay over referral of domestic consumer bills correction to Karachi office, the bench issued directives to people at the helm of affairs to ensure that such issues should be decided in SSGCL Quetta.
Citing the consumers’ concerns, the bench said in the order, “We are unable to comprehend why the officials of public enterprises are running the enterprises as their private business or they are posing themselves as rulers instead of servants of the state and citizens of Pakistan. The afore stated facts, figures and circumstances altogether bring us to a conclusion that the SSGCL is no more left as a state-owned enterprises, rather they are working as a foreign invaders or as a subsidy of the East India Company, who are just looting the citizens of the Pakistan on pretext of revenue collection and financial fixes”.
The court pointed out in an 11-page order, a copy of which is available with TLTP , “It has been observed with pain and dismay that now this tendency has become a run of the mill that whenever the hearing of this case comes nearer, the gas pressure in the city becomes stable and soon after adjournment of the case and after providing appropriate time to the gas officials to address the issues, the gas supply is either terminated or the pressure is being reduced to the inhabitants till the next date of hearing”.
The court further said, “It has been transpired that certain SSGCL officials are sitting in the gas office with misconception that they are running their private fiefdom and , therefore, the inhabitants of the city are being manhandled, disregarded, disrespected and insulted in front of the gas office and instead of resolving their issues they are being denied their fundamental right and even nobody is ready to resolve their issues”. The hearing was adjourned till May 15.
