PESHAWAR: A lawyer on Monday submitted petition to the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the “unconstitutional” and “illegal” natural gas outages in KP [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] despite “producing surplus natural gas”.
The application was submitted by Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel Advocate urging the court to stop the federal government from gas outages in KP and ensure proper gas pressure.
The petitioner said writ petition is pending since long for enforcement of constitutional right of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as mentioned in article 158. The article states that the province which produces the natural will have precedence over other parts of the country and after meeting its requirement, it would be further distributed in other provinces.
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The lawyer said that the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company (SNGPL) has once again started gas load shedding in violation of the Peshawar High Court order. The petitioner said that he has also submitted Contempt of Court Petition which is still pending before the court. “That the respondents are facilitating the commercial consumers and are not accommodating the residential consumers in the cold weather even though they are paying the bills with taxes,” the petitioner argued.
Kakakhel argued that under the 1973 constitution, KP has the “superior right” over the gas resource and after the fulfilling the needs of province, the gas can be supplied to other parts of the country. He added that in in cold weather, the aged people and children are vulnerable to cold weather as there are normally no woods available to burn the fire of the stove. The petitioner said that the respondents have not taken action against those people who are using illegal compressors / pumps to store the gas and use it whenever the gas is not available. “He said that the government officials are also involved in giving illegal connections to their blue eyed,” said the petitioner.
He said that gas connection is given directly from the main pipe secretly which violates the legal and constitutional rights of the public at large. Kakakhel argued that SNGPL is not fulfilling the needs of the citizens of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and since long in the area i.e. Warsak Road, Peshawar, the pipeline which was completed in the year of 2018-19 is not functional hence there is no gas facility for the residents. He pleaded the court to direct the federal government and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company to stop the “illegal” gas outages in KP and implement the earlier judgment of the high court.
