The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking quashing of a government pricing policy that allegedly gives cheaper natural gas to industry as compared to domestic consumers.
A bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam dismissed the plea of Manohar Lal Sharma, a lawyer who had presented his own calculation to claim that the present rate of supply of natural gas to the industry was R0.0075 per litre.
Seeking a CBI probe into the alleged irregularity, Sharma wanted the quashing of the pricing policy under which natural gas was allegedly being sold to industries at R0.0075 per litre while the same gas and its by-product propane (liquefied petroleum gas) was being sold at more than Rs.71 per litre to domestic consumers.
He said: ?While distributing natural resources, the state is bound to act in consonance with the principles of equality and public trust and ensure that no action is taken which may be detrimental to public interest. The government has compelled the general public to pay more ?providing extra benefit to the oil companies. It is a serious fraud with the general public.?