After the Centre issued revised guidelines for allocation of natural gas to distributors and stated on affidavit that it would strictly comply with it, the Gujarat High Court today disposed of the contempt of courts petition filed against the union government.
The petition was filed by NGO Dhrangadhra Prakruti Mandal.
Yesterday, the Centre issued revised guidelines to allocate natural gas to gas entities and reduced the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) (transport) and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic purposes.
Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Joint Secretary P K Singh who was present in court today said the Centre had filed an affidavit stating that revised guidelines for allocation of natural gas to City Gas Distributor (CGD) entities for CNG (transport) and PNG (domestic) segments were issued yesterday and it would be strictly complied with in view of directions issued by the court.
Disposing of the petition, a division bench comprising Justice M R Shah and Justice R P Dholaria observed, "The learned Assistant Solicitor General of India has requested closure of present proceedings".
"Considering the request made by the Assistant Solicitor General of India appearing on behalf of the Union, we deem it fit to close the present proceedings. With this, the present application is disposed of," the bench said.
However, the court directed the Centre to increase allocation of domestic gas to Gas Authority of India (GAIL) to supply to city gas distributor entities with immediate effect.
