Supreme Court declines to consider PIL on fuel price control

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a PIL questioning what it termed as an almost daily increase in prices of petrol and diesel.

A bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman told advocate Gaurav Agrawal, appearing for the petitioner from Kerala that if he argued the matter, the court may impose a cost.

"Do you seriously want to argue this, if you do, we might impose costs," the bench told the counsel.

Kerala-based advocate, Shaji J Kodankandath contended that there was a regular increase in prices of petrol and diesel, which was absolutely unreasonable in view of low crude oil price.

On court's indication, the counsel preferred to withdraw the petition.

Notably, retail prices of fuel here do not solely depend on crude oil prices. Various factors including margin by Oil Marketing Company transportation and freight costs, central and state government taxes and other taxes etc are considered in determining the price.