Oil companies defend pricing policy

ISLAMABAD: Apparently stung by the Rana Bhagwandas Judicial Commission’s critical report on oil pricing practices, oil companies told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that policymaking was not the domain of judiciary.

It was the job of the executive and the judiciary was not supposed to interfere, Ali Sibtain Fazli, senior counsel of the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), stated in a response to the Bhagwandas report.

‘Fixing petrol prices is not purely a ministerial act,’ the 40-page rejoinder said. ‘The federal government has to apply its mind on each point and occasion to determine what, if at all, should be the quantum of Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) on a particular petroleum product.’

The rejoinder submitted before the Supreme Court defended the pricing policy of the federal government, saying it was ‘objectively and comparatively reasonable’.

ECC for action against hoarders, middlemen

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet constituted on Tuesday a four-member committee of federal secretaries to control prices of food items, particularly during Ramazan, and take action against hoarders.

The committee will hold meetings with the chief ministers to work out modalities and implement administrative measures. It will recommend measures to minimise the role of middlemen.

A yawning gap between the wholesale price index — 0.5 per cent — and the consumer price index — 11 per cent — points clearly to hoarding.

The ECC meeting, presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, also decided to set up consumer protection committees with an active involvement of public representatives.

It asked the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to sell sugar for Rs38 per kg during Ramazan. The USC was also allowed to sell from its outlets 75,000 tons of sugar per month for the next two months to ensure availability of sufficient stocks during Ramazan.

The ECC allowed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to offload 20,000 tons of sugar per month over the next two months in the open market and import the remaining 75,000 tons from the approved 200,000 tons of white sugar.

Police register case against Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Police registered on Tuesday a case against former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and his unnamed collaborators on charges of detaining judges of superior courts and their families in their houses after the proclamation of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

The Secretariat Police registered the case at around 9am after 18 hours of discussion with senior police officers and officials of the interior ministry.
The case was registered in accordance with an order issued by the district additional and sessions judge on Monday after four months of hearing of petitions submitted by Advocate Chaudhry Aslam Ghuman.
In the FIR, the former president and his collaborators had been charged under sections PPC 344 and 34 which deal with wrongful confinement for 10 or more days and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.

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