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The first bench of the Madras High Court, which includes the Acting Chief Justice, on Monday set aside an interim stay by a single judge in March that restrained oil marketing companies (OMCs) from selling diesel at the market price to the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, one of the bulk consumer.
On March 14, judge S Rajeswaran had given an interim injunction against increasing diesel prices for bulk consumers till April 12. The stay order was given after the state transport undertaking (STU) pleaded implementation of the dual pricing system would hit the STUs badly.
They said the eight STUs together would incur around Rs 745.55 crore more a year if dual pricing were to be implemented. Responding to the stay order, the Centre on March 25 filed an appeal against this interim order. Union government pleader C Kanagaraj said the bench also directed the single judge to consider the interim application afresh and pass final orders, giving fair reasons. Therefore, the single judge will have to hear the matter again, said Kanagaraj. He added the new price for bulk consumers will be continued.
Earlier, the senior counsel representing the OMCs told the court that there are about 20,000 bulk diesel customers across India and if all of them move court, then the OMCs would stand to lose around Rs 400 crore every day.
In Tamil Nadu, the STUs are not the only bulk customers. There are about 1,400 bulk customers in the state including the central and state offices.
The OMCs will not be able to pay for the imports of fuel and survive if all bulk customers go for a stay on the price increase, he added.
