In a major development, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a verdict which said that the gas companies would have to pay a total amount of Rs417 billion to the government as Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC), reported 24 News HD TV channel.

The 78-page judgment, initially reserved on February 20, was passed by a three-member bench with two-to-one majority and announced over five months later by Justice Mushir Alam.

It was Justice Faisal Arab who authored the judgment while Justice Mansoor Ali Shah wrote the dissenting note.

Rejecting the petitions filed by the companies, the court allowed the government to collect the GIDC.

Earlier, the PTI government had issued an ordinance through which it had waived an amount of Rs220 billion. However, the move was withdrawn after facing severe criticism from the opposition parties.