AAP-led Delhi govt wants SC to haul up oilmin officials for less CNG allocation for transport

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government headed by the Aam Admi Party wants the Supreme Court to hold two Union petroleum ministry officials guilty of contempt over what it says is the inadequate allocation of compressed natural gas or CNG to transport and giving priority to industry instead.

This opens up a possible legal front for the AAP to take on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance central government ahead of the 2014 polls.

The drivers of CNG-powered three-wheelers are a major vote base of the party.

The “steep increase in the prices of CNG and PNG (petroleum natural gas) has an adverse effect on the common man already reeling under the inflationary pressure,” according to the Delhi government petition.

The Union government decision is unfair to those who have to use CNG such as “auto rickshaw (drivers), bus operators and taxi drivers” and those who have switched over to the cleanerburning fuel, it said.

“The rise in the prices of the cooking gas has also affected the citizens hard,” the petition said. It said central government guidelines of November last year prioritised CNG supply to industries violated court orders.

The guidelines mean that “90% of indigenously produced natural gas is earmarked for industries and only 6.69 mmscmd, which constitutes 8% of the domestic production, is allocated… all over the country for utilisation in the transport and domestic sector,” the Delhi government said.

The petition will be argued by senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, brother of Aam Admi Party leader Prashant Bhushan, in court on Thursday. The application was moved by deputy secretary in the Delhi transport department Yogesh Pratap.

It specifically named petroleum secretary Vivek Rae and Nikunj Kumar Srivastava, director in the same ministry.

The Delhi government accused the Centre of violating the April 5, 2002, order of the top court, which had specifically asked it to give priority to the transport sector, including private vehicles, all over India, regarding CNG allocation.

The court had ordered that CNG would be first allocated to the transport sector in Delhi and the rest of India. If any CNG was still available, it would be allocated to industries with special preference to stateowned companies and power projects, it said.