High Court issues rule on LPG cylinder price

The High Court has issued a rule asking the authorities why it should not order them to take immediate action to form a committee for setting the maximum retail price of liquefied petroleum gas for displaying it on cylinders.

It has given the energy secretary, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission chairman and the director general of the National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate four weeks to respond.

On the preliminary hearing of a writ petition on Monday, the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman also ordered the respondents to inform it within Mar 1 about initiatives that will have been taken.

Lawyer Md Moniruzzaman presented his case while Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder argued on behalf of the state.

The sellers are charging the customers high as the prices are not displayed on the LPG cylinders, Moniruzzaman told bdnews24.com after the hearing.

“The main function of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission is to determine the reasonable value of fuel. But they are not doing it. As a result, there is a kind of anarchy in the growing LPG gas market,” he added.

A boat carrying empty LPG cylinders heads towards Diabari in Dhaka’s Mirpur from Savar crossing the Tugar River on Saturday. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

The lawyer filed the public interest litigation on Jan 13 attaching news reports published and seeking directive to set up a commission to determine the prices of LPG labelled on cylinders.

"The task of this committee will be to determine how much the price will be in our local market in proportion to the cost of LPG gas in the international market," he said.

To back his claim of “anarchy” in the local LPG market, the lawyer said prices of a 12 kg cylinder increased by Tk 130 after the prices rose in the international market by $10 or around Tk 850 in November.

He questioned the rationale of a rise by Tk 11 per kg in the domestic market following the global price hike of Tk 0.85 per kg.

The prices increased again by Tk 200 per cylinder on Jan 4 only three days after a rise by $129 per tonne internationally, according to Moniruzzaman.

But the supply with the new prices was yet to start arriving in Bangladesh, he added.

The number of LPG users in the country is around 3.8 million, according to estimates by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and traders.

Besides the capital, LPG is also used at district, Upazila and village levels. LPG is also used in many cars.

Bangladesh needs more than 1.5 million tonnes of LPG annually. However, imports and sales stand about 1 million tonnes. The government supplies 20,000 tonnes, or 2 percent of the total sale, while the rest is imported privately.