Govt, OGRA served notices over hike in fuel prices

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday served notices to the federal government and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) over the recent increase in fuel prices, ARY News reported.

During the hearing, Justice Shahid Karim directed the respondents to submit their replies. The petitioner, Azhar Siddique, argued that despite a decrease in global petroleum prices, the government had increased fuel prices in Pakistan.

The petitioner pleaded with the court to declare the recent fuel price hike void, citing the lack of a mechanism to determine fuel prices in the country.

Earlier, the federal government announced new petrol and diesel prices for the next fortnight, hiking the prices by Rs 7 per litre.

As per a notification issued, the price of petrol was raised by Rs 1 per litre. The new price of petrol was set at Rs. 257.13 per litre.

Also read: Petrol price increased for next fortnight

Similarly, the price of high-speed diesel was also increased by Rs7 per litre. The new price for high-speed diesel was set at Rs 267.95 per litre.

It is to be noted here that petroleum product prices was increased for the third consecutive fortnight as the same were hiked on January 1 and 16 too.

On January 1, the price of petrol was raised by 56 paisas to Rs252.66 per litre while the price of high-speed diesel was increased by Rs2.96 to Rs258.34 per litre.

Similarly on January 16, the petrol price was raised by Rs 3.47 to Rs. 256.13 per litre whereas the High-speed diesel prices jacked up by Rs. 2.61 to 260.95 per liter.