Petroleum Division terms news regarding GIDC judgment as ‘misleading’

ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division on Saturday took note of misleading advertisements printed by some newspapers regarding the Supreme Court’s (SC) judgment in the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Act-2015 case.

the Petroleum Division said in a press statement issued today said, “These advertisements have wrongfully presented the SC’s landmark judgment of August 13, 2020, on the GIDC Act 2015.”

Petroleum Division said that such advertisements have wrongfully implied that the judgment would negatively affect the national economy and that there is no need to collect the outstanding GIDC as the already collected amount is sufficient to complete gas pipeline projects.

The statement further said, “The advertisements erroneously claim that the North-South Gas Pipeline project has already been awarded to another country.”

SC’s judgment is a win-win for both the government and the industry as it gives a timeframe of six months to the government to initiate gas infrastructure development projects by utilizing the amount collected under the GIDC Act, it added.

Likewise, the division said that after the SC’s judgment collecting of cess has been stopped until the already collected amount is spent. It further said that it has waived late payment surcharge and allowed 24 monthly installments to the industry for paying back the outstanding amount.