‘Arbitrary’ Ogra fines irk OCAC

KARACHI: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has arbitrarily increased the amount of fines on pumps overcharging on petroleum products.

The Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) termed Ogra’s actions as contrary to the stated principles in the Ordinance and a source of serious concern to the industry, threatening future investments/development in the sector.

Prior to August 2015 for a given offence (overcharging by an outlet, etc) the fine/penalty applied was Rs75,000.

After August 2015, for the same offence the fine has been (without prior notification by Ogra) increased to Rs500,000 which works out to an increase of 567 per cent, CEO OCAC Ilyas Fazil said.

In one case there were six sites of which five were charged Rs500,000 each while one (for reasons best known to Ogra) was charged only Rs75,000 for the same offence, which is sheer discrimination. All sites should have been charged Rs75,000 each. This act of imposing fines at one’s own whims is not in line with the law, he said.

It is also the responsibility of the local administration (Deputy/Assistant Commissioners) to enforce the law and to take action against outlets which are found violating Ogra notified prices.

Instead of enforcing the same, there are very believable reports that some elements from within the local setup may themselves be involved in putting pressure on the dealers to overcharge in order to recover their own share, the Council noted.

The above facts have also been brought to the notice of Ogra’s officials, most recently, at a meeting chaired by NAB Sukkur on June 14, 2016.

In the intervening period from August 2015 to date, instead of looking into the matter, Ogra continues along the path of excessive/unjustified application of fines in contravention to Ogra Ordinance 2002, Mr Fazil said. He said it is surprising that Ogra is not addressing the root cause which forces agents of oil marketing companies (OMCs) to raise prices since they do not have power and resources to stand up against such malafide elements and their pressures.

Instead, Ogra is just penalising petrol pump operators mechanically without taking any measures to eliminate the real cause behind the increase in prices, he added.