ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of the gas tariff raise, the Supreme Court has summoned the petroleum secretary and chairman Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on October 18 to explain the matter.
A three-member SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the case about the non-implementation of its verdict regarding the illegal appointment of former Ogra Chairman Tauqir Sadiq.
The court was told that after the appointment of Sadiq Ogra’s line losses bumped up to 10 percent and to recover those losses Ogra increased tariffs for the SNGPL and SSGPL, forcing the consumers to pay for the losses.
The court commented why the consumers have to be burdened all the time through tariff adjustments to cover up the follies of authorities.
The CJP remarked why the large cabinet and parliament never attempted to understand that weekly price increase was a burden on consumers and practical measures were needed to stop the pilferage.
The court asked the National Accountability Bureau (Nab) officials to hold a transparent investigation to find out the responsible who appointed Sadiq as Ogra chairman.
Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja remarked that Nab should confiscate former Ogra chairman’s property. 
Nab Investigation Officer Waqas Ahmed told the court that the total volume of the loss suffered by Ogra after Sadiq’s appointment was Rs83 billion.
He also informed that the country had to face gas shortfall due to massive pilferage and gas theft after 460 marketing licenses were issued to set up CNG stations during the former Ogra chairman’s tenure.
The Deputy Prosecutor of Nab told the court that efforts were being made to arrest Sadiq who narrowly escaped a raid on October 5.
The hearing was adjourned until October 18.