The Sindh High Court has dismissed a petition challenging Pakistan’s petroleum pricing mechanism, ruling that decisions on fuel prices, taxes, and broader fiscal policy fall within the domain of the executive and legislature rather than the judiciary.
The ruling was issued by a two-member constitutional bench headed by Justice Adnan ul Karim Memon, which held that courts cannot ordinarily interfere in economic and fiscal policymaking unless such decisions are clearly unlawful, discriminatory, unconstitutional, or in violation of statutory provisions.
The petition was filed by Syed Khalid Shah, who challenged the government’s mechanism for fixing petroleum prices and argued that domestic fuel rates had not been reduced in proportion to falling international crude oil prices.
The petitioner also contended that the government was using the Petroleum Development Levy primarily as a revenue-generating tool and called for greater transparency in the calculation of fuel prices.
However, the court observed that petroleum pricing is shaped by a range of complex considerations, including international crude prices, exchange rate fluctuations, freight charges, refinery margins, taxes, and the government’s fiscal needs. It said such matters involve specialised policy judgments and are therefore not suitable for judicial review in the ordinary course.
The bench further noted that the petitioner had failed to show any breach of a mandatory legal provision or establish that the pricing mechanism was unconstitutional, arbitrary, or tainted by mala fide intent.
The court held that dissatisfaction with fuel prices or with the government’s fiscal measures does not in itself justify constitutional intervention. It stressed that the High Court is not an appellate forum for reassessing economic or fiscal policy and must exercise judicial restraint unless a policy is plainly contrary to law.
Finding that no enforceable fundamental right had been infringed, the Sindh High Court declared the petition not maintainable under Article 199 of the Constitution and dismissed it at the preliminary stage.
