Gas Infrastructure Development Cess

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Gas Infrastructure Development Cess" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2023)

The Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) is a

Its purpose is to finance the construction and maintenance of transnational gas pipelines, including the Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline, the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline, and various liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.^[3]

History

It was introduced in November 2011 under the

In a significant ruling on June 22, 2014, the Supreme Court declared the GIDC unconstitutional, stating that it could not be introduced through a Money Bill.[3] In response, the government enacted the GIDC Ordinance in October 2014, which was again legally contested.^[3] This led to the introduction of the GIDC Act in May 2015, aiming to address the legal issues.^[3]

Despite these legislative efforts, the GIDC Act continued to face legal challenges, leading to a series of stay orders against the billing and collection of the cess.^[3] This legal contention resulted in the accumulation of unpaid GIDC arrears from its inception in January 2012 until December 2018.^[3]

To address the accumulating arrears, the PTI government issued a presidential ordinance on August 28, 2019, which proposed a 50 percent waiver on the GIDC and a 100 percent waiver on accumulated interest, along with a payment plan for arrears.^[3] This ordinance targeted sectors including CNG, fertilizers, and power generation, providing them the option to settle outstanding cess amounts under specified conditions.^[3]

References

This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (November 2023)