The Bombay High Court on Monday issued notices to Centre, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Finance Secretary, besides three oil marketing companies on a PIL which claimed that recent hike in petrol prices is “illegal” since it lacked the Parliament’s approval and “ultra vires” of Constitution.
A bench of Justice R.Y. Ganoo and Justice N.M. Jamdar ordered service of notices to the respondents, who apart from the central ministries also include the oil marketing companies, namely the Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
The bench has posted the matter to May 30.
The PIL, filed by Rajendra Phanse, submitted that the petrol prices were hiked “abruptly” on May 23 at the stroke of midnight after the conclusion of the budget session of Parliament.
The petitioner contended that the raise in petrol prices was “totally illegal” as it has no approval of the Parliament.
The Centre increased prices of petrol by Rs 7.50 per litre.
Terming as “undemocratic”, the hike since it was announced after the Budget session was over, the petitioner argued that in the past the decisions like raising the rates of postal and telephone services used to be taken during the budget session.
The petitioner further said that the hike was against the principles of natural justice as it is bound to affect the entire population of the country.
Citing lack of uniformity in the prices of petrol, the petitioner said that in Thane (Maharashtra), the price per litre is Rs 81.70, while it is as low as Rs 58.06 in Port Blair, Rs 81.75 per litre in Bengaluru and Rs 73.18 in Delhi.
This showed that the prices of petrol change from city to city within the country, which is nothing but a geographical discrimination in contravention of Article 14 of the Constitution, he said.
