LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Wednesday denied the federal government permission to hold an auction of approximately 400 megaton (MT)of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

A single bench had stayed the auction of the LPG scheduled for Feb 2 (today) last week and sought a report from the secretary of petroleum on the alleged violation of rules in the process. The Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) was holding the auction.

The stay order was passed on a peddon of an LPGmarketing company that alleged that the PPL had been auctioning the LPG beyond the price fixed by the government and in violation of the LPG policy.

The government filed an appealagainsttheorderthat was heard by a division bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh on Wednesday.

The government`s counsel argued that there would be a shortage of LPGin the country if the auction was not held on schedule. He said the court could not order implementation of the LPG policy as it was yet to be notified.

The auction was a policy matter of the government and the court lacked jurisdiction to interfere, the counsel added.

The bench turned down the request and sought replies from the ministry of petroleum and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Orga) by Feb 7.

The marketing company through its counsel, Barrister Qasim Farooq, stated thattheaucdonofthegason an exorbitant price would ultimately put a burden on the consumers.