Oil companies told to explain petrol price hike

The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas and three oil companies to file an affidavit explaining the reasons for the recent price hike of petrol by Rs7.50 per litre.

The affidavits have to be filed by the Ministry, Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum Corporations — the three major companies supplying petrol in India — by June 20.

A vacation bench of Justice RY Ganoo and Justice NM Jamdar gave the directions while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Thane resident, challenging the oil companies’ decision to hike the price from May 23 midnight.

The PIL demands that the prices be rolled back and a committee formed to decide on price hikes with consent from the Parliament.

The PIL filed through advocate VP Patil states that: “The ministry should fix a uniform rate throughout the country. The hike should be done only after the consent of both houses of Parliament.”
It adds: “The ministry cannot take policy decision about petrol prices as it is a public policy. The decision should not be taken when the House is not in session as was the case of recent price hike.”

The PIL pleads the high court to direct the Ministry to form petrol, diesel, CNG and LPG regulatory commission to regulate prices of petroleum products.