LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a decision of the Lahore High Court which restrained the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) from taking action against textile industries for using gas to produce electricity.

The SNGPL had issued notices to various industrial consumers to stop operating gas generators upon industrial gas connections which were challenged before the LHC by a group of 65 industrial units forming ‘All Pakistan Textile Exporters Association’.

The LHC allowed the petitions on the basis of a verdict commonly known as “Bulley Shah judgment” rendered by it and upheld by the Supreme Court.

The SNGPL filed the appeal before the apex court challenging the LHC decision pleading that the Bulley Shah judgment had been misconstrued as the same pertained to applicability of tariff on general industrial connections and those having captive power generation whereas the instant matter pertained to the use of gas.

High court had restrained the gas utility from taking action against textile industries for using gas to produce electricity

Representing the company’s appeal, Advocate Anwaar Hussain argued before the court that the use of gas was a contractual matter which fell out of the scope of judicial review under Article 199 of the Constitution, which defined the jurisdiction of a high court.

He said production of electricity by the industries was a violation of the Gas Allocation Policy, 2005, and the contract they had signed with the SNGPL. He explained that the industries could not use the gas for any purpose other than mentioned in the contract. He said illegal power generation had badly affected the supply of gas to millions of domestic consumers.

The lawyers of the industries and the association failed to satisfy the apex court on the maintainability of their petitions before the high court.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, at the Lahore registry, allowed the appeal by the SNGPL and set aside the impugned verdict with an observation that the petitions filed by the respondents/industries before the LHC were not maintainable.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2020