HC order on gas price hike stayed till June 5

Staff Correspondent: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday stayed till June 5 (Monday) the High Court (HC) order that stayed the decision of increasing the gas price from June 1.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) seeking a stay on the HC order.

Following the passing of the order, there is no bar to execute the decision to hike gas prices from June 1 in the second phase.

The top court judge also sent the petition of the commission to the full bench of the Appellate Division for its hearing on June 5.

The HC on February 28 stayed the decision to hike gas prices in the second phase for six months.

The HC also questioned the legality of the move to increase the prices in two phases.

The BERC on February 23 raised gas prices for all consumers by 22.7 percent and decided to implement the hike in two phases.

As per the new prices going to be effective from this month, households using double burners would pay Tk 800 instead of the current Tk 650 while those using single burners would pay Tk 750 instead of Tk 600. The prices were supposed to be further increased by Tk 150 each from June 1.

risingbd/DHAKA/May 30, 2017/Mehedi/Amirul