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Indraprastha under fire

  • 29/09/2002

on september 9, 2002, the Supreme Court (sc) cracked the whip on compressed natural gas (cng) dispensing company Indraprastha Gas Limited (igl) for furnishing wrong information about its capacity to meet Delhi's requirements. igl came in for a severe tongue lashing, with a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice B N Kirpal, Justice V N Khare and Justice Ashok Bhan observing that it was "thoroughly incompetent and not a reliable company'. The court also asked the present as well as former top brass of igl to show cause why action should not be initiated against them and the company for having misled the court.

It was on the basis of the figures provided by igl that the apex court had rejected the Union and Delhi governments' pleas to reconsider an earlier order for a complete switchover of the city's bus fleet to cng mode. On April 5, 2002, the sc had mandated the Union government to "make available' 16.1 lakh kilogrammes (kg) per day of cng. This directive had also been issued, taking into account igl affidavits promising that the company would increase its dispensing capacity. But igl has now submitted that its former officials had given incorrect figures to the sc. An incensed Justice Kirpal noted: "This court was completely kept in the dark and was misled

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