Indraprastha Gas objects to open price bids for gas licences

Delhi-based Indraprastha Gas has objected to oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board's (PNGRB) decision to open price bids for giving gas licence for Ghaziabad, saying the Delhi High Court had given it permission to begin CNG retailing in the town.     

"We take strong objection to the sudden move...It is shocking to know that the Board intends to open the price bids despite the fact that the entire matter of Ghaziabad is subjudice," IGL Managing Director Rajesh Vedyas wrote to PNGRB.     

Chief Justice Manmohan J of the Delhi High Court had on August 18 allowed the city gas distributor IGL, which had claimed that it was authorised by the government for retailing CNG to automobiles and piped gas to industrial units in Ghaziabad, to "carry on their activities in Ghaziabad."     

The PNGRB in the evening of September 18 sent e-mails to all the six bidders for Ghaziabad informing them that price bids would be opened on September 22 at 1100 hrs.     

The mails followed the Delhi High Court's refusal to admit a petition by Adani Energy — one of the six bidders — to become party in the case where IGL had challenged PNGRB's authority to award licences as Government had not notified the relevant section of the the PNGRB Act.