PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited to give the due share of natural gas to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in line with Article 158 of the Constitution.

A bench consisting of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Roohul Amin Khan ordered all respondents, including SNGPL, in a petition jointly filed by the All Pakistan CNG Association, KP Zone, and 37 CNG stations to ensure compliancewith the order, and adjourned hearing until Jan 19.

Article 158 of the Constitution states that the province in which a wellhead of natural gas is situated will have precedence over other parts of Pakistan to meet its needs from that wellhead.

The bench also issued notices to the respondents, including the federal government through petroleum and natural resources secretary, SNGPL through its managing director, SNGPL KP regional office general manager, Malakand division commissioner, Swat and Malakand deputy commissioners, and the provincial government through its chief secretary for comments on the petition.

`Compliance with Article 158 of the Constitution means that there will be no loadshedding of natural gas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as theprovince produces more natural gas than what it consumes,` lawyer for the petitioners Shumail Ahmad Butt told Dawn.

The petitioners have challenged gas loadshedding in the province, reducing pressure of gas, and the decision of imposing mandatory loadshedding on CNG stations for 17 hours by the district administrations in Swat and Malakand.

In preliminary arguments, lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt said in light of an earlier judgment of the high court, the government was bound not to cause any gas loadshedding directly or through reduced gas pressure or any other means of curtailment in gas supply to the petitioners and other consumers in the province.

He said according to the record of the Dec 17, 2015 National Assembly question hour, whileresponding to the question of an MNA, the petroleum minister had admitted that till this date, the province was a net exporter as it produced over 362 million cubic feet (MCF) of gas a day, whereas its consumption was far low (293 MMCFD).

The lawyer said the petitioners had also challenged an order of the Malakand division`s commissioner issued on Dec 31, 2015, for the deputy commissioners of Swat and Malakand to impose a gas loadshedding schedule from Sam to 10pm (17 hours loadshedding) for CNG stations and seven hours loadshedding for domestic consumers.

He said the commissioner`s order was in a blatant disregard and violation of the high court`s judgment.

CONTEMPT NOTICES ISSUED: Another high court bench consisting of Chief JusticeMazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaisar Rashid Khan on Wednesday issued the contempt of court notices to different respondents including the managing director of the SNGPL for violating an earlier judgment of the high court regarding the implementation of Article 158 of the Constitution.

The contempt petition is filed by All Pakistan CNG Association, KP Zone.

The petitioner said the high court, in its Dec 7, 2010, order on several petitions had directed all stakeholders to adhere to Article 158 of the Constitution in letter and spirit via-à-vis the supply of gas and therefore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should receive precedence over other parts of the country in meeting gas requirements from its wellheads.