ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday barred the government from collecting Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline surcharge from consumers.
IHC judge Justice Shaukat Siddiqui while delivering court’s verdict over the petitions filed by commercial consumers of gas and the CNG station owners said that apparently few clauses of the gas infrastructure act contradict with the Constitution. The petitions pleaded the court that the government was collecting Rs10 to Rs100 surcharge from gas consumers for the gas pipeline project.
Justice Siddiqui barred the government from collecting the surcharge, saying the project is inactive.
He was of the view that intriguing surcharge of an inactive project was not justified and was illegal.