IGL bags Ghaziabad city-gas licence

Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) has bagged licence to build and operate CNG stations and piped natural gas network in Ghaziabad.

“IGL is an ‘authorised entity’ to lay, build, operate or expand city-gas distribution (CGD) network in Ghaziabad,” the petroleum ministry said in an order yesterday.

“We are extremely grateful to the Petroleum Ministry for having reposed its faith in IGL for undertaking city gas distribution project in another city in NCR,” Rajesh Vedvyas, managing director of IGL, said in a release today.

In 2009, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) had invited bids for city gas business in seven cities — Allahabad, Ghaziabad and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh), Rajahmundry and Yanam (Andhra Pradesh) and Chandigarh.

IGL, which had pre-PNGRB authorisation for CNG operations in Ghaziabad, had challenged PNGRB’s move in the Delhi High Court. IGL had claimed that the board lacked powers to issue authorisation for city gas business since Section 16 of the PNGRB Act was not notified.

Earlier this year, the high court had barred the board from issuing authorisation. “In view of non-notification of Section 16... it is held that the board has no power to grant authorisation to entities which applied to it for laying, building, operating or expanding city or local natural gas distribution networks... this is in consonance with the Central government’s stand in the counter-affidavit filed before this court,” the high court had said in January.

The central government also told the court that the board was “not currently empowered to issue authorisations”. The board has challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court.