By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: The Supreme Court was told on Wednesday that the finding of the National Accountability Bureau on profits earned by refineries and oil marketing companies was with the government and only the government could make it public.
Advocate Ibrahim Satti, representing the NAB, informed the bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad that the detailed report on an inquiry held by the bureau into the profits earned by refineries and oil marketing companies despite reduction of prices in the international market was being reviewed by the government.
During the last hearing, the apex court had ordered the prosecutor general, NAB, to inform it about the inquiry the bureau had compiled on the subject. In its report, the NAB has reportedly suggested to the government to recover Rs4.5 billion from refineries and marketing companies for not passing on the benefit of international price reduction to the consumer since May 2004.
The bench, which was hearing identical petitions by three petitioners – PPP Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, PML-N secretary-general Zafar Iqbal Jhagra and Awami Himayat Tehrik Pakistan chairman Maulvi Iqbal Haider – challenging oil pricing mechanism, decided to constitute a larger bench on Dec 11 to hear the matter in detail. The bench also directed its office to procure the Senate Standing Committee report on petroleum from the senate secretariat.In her petition, Ms Zuberi, who is a member of senate sub-committee on oil price mechanism, requested the Supreme Court to order forfeiture of overcharging by different oil companies to the tune of Rs160 billion. She also sought a direction against the federal government to undertake functions of pricing in consultation with industry, public representatives and consumers, especially when no fixed pricing formula was elaborately enunciated by the government.
She also questioned the delegation of power to the OCAC secretary and oil pricing mechanism, contenting that the formula was in derogation of fundamental rights of people.
Mr Haider sought a declaration from the apex court that section 2 (4b) of the Petroleum Products (Petroleum Development Levy) Ordinance 1961 was violative of Articles 90 (exercise of executive authority of the federation), 8 (laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights to be void) and 9 (security of person) of the Constitution.
The federal government, secretary for the ministry of petroleum, chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, chairman of the defunct Oil Companies Advisory Committee, chief executive of the Attock Petroleum, Shoaib Malik, country representative of Caltex Oil, Nadeem Jaffery, managing director of the Pakistan State Oil, Tariq Kirmani, chairman of the Shell Pakistan, Farooq Rehmatullah, chief executive of the Total Parco Pakistan, Emmanuel Laurenty, managing director of the National Refinery, M. Qaiser Jamal, managing director of the Pak-Arab Refinery, Dr Shahid K. Hak, and chief executive the Pakistan Refinery, Zafar Haleem, are respondents in his petition.
He asked the court to obligate the petroleum ministry to reduce petroleum prices as per a resolution passed by provincial assemblies of the NWFP and Balochistan. Under the constitution, the federal government is bound to respect the resolutions by placing a bill in parliament under Article 144 of the Constitution.
Mr Jhagra sought reduction in “artificial” prices of petroleum products and a restraining order against the OCAC from further increasing prices, pending decision in the apex court.