TEHRAN, Iran, Nov.18
Trend:
Iranian Member of Parliament questioned the legality of petrol price hike without approval of parliament.
Referring to the decision by Supreme Council of Economic Coordination to increase gasoline prices, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi said that the council was not legally defined in the country's decision-making system.
"Of course, creation of such council was important in the emergency conditions to coordinate the three powers and it was the right decision to form it by the decision of supreme leader,” Sadeghi told Trend.
“This council is needed for the three powers to be coordinated, and the decision to raise the price of gasoline has been the decision of the three powers, and according to the news that we have, the decision has the Supreme leader's approval,” the MP said.
In his words, the legal problem of the rise in gasoline price without Parliament’s approval is that the government had to submit any proposal to increase prices in the form of annual budget bills in accordance with the Sixth Development Plan Act.
“The government claims that it has offered the rise in price of gasoline three times to the parliament and the parliament has not approved it. If the parliament does not approve, it is against the Sixth Development Plan to raise the price without the approval of the parliament,” Sadeghi said.
“In addition, the rise in gasoline price is not an emergency issue because, as President Rouhani said, the decision was not to offset the budget deficit,” the MP added. “The President himself has declared that the decision was to support the low-income families and to administer justice.”
"This decision affects the lower classes of society more than any other classes. The protesting against the rise in gasoline prices took place mostly in the suburbs and south of Tehran in slums,” said Sadeghi.
Under the new fuel measures, each driver is allowed to buy 60 liters of petrol a month at 35 cent (15,000 rials) a liter. Each additional liter then costs 71 cents (30,000 rials). Previously, drivers were allowed up to 250 liters at 25 cent (10,000 rials) per liter.
According to the official statements, the revenues gained from removing subsidies on petrol will be used for cash payments to low-income households.