The High Court has put a six-month embargo on the government’s decision to increase prices of household and industrial gas for a second time in June this year.
Tuesday’s order came from the bench of justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and JBM Hassan after a primary hearing on a writ petition filed by Consumer Association of Bangladesh a day ago.
Last week, the regulator announced it would hike gas prices twice this year – in March and again in June – ignoring the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Act that prohibits it from doing so.
Also Read- Two gas price hikes against the law
On February 23, BERC raised the gas price by a weighted average of 22.7%. For households, this hike is 55-60% and for transportation it is 33%.
In a ruling, the High Court on Tuesday asked BERC Chairman Monowar Islam and Secretary Md Faizur Rahman to explain why the latest public notification on the hike should not be declared illegal.