LAHORE: Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday sought a reply from the federal government and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) until first week of July on an application challenging levy of 17 percent sales tax on petroleum products. Applicant also requested the court to declare illegal the notification of changing petroleum prices every fortnight. The application was moved on the behalf of Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddiqui in his pending petition challenging an increase in prices of petroleum products. Earlier in the main petition, he had submitted that the OGRA with the connivance of the Finance Ministry, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Prime Minister’s Officer was continuously exploiting public financially. He had said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was defrauding the with the nation and had not been telling the truth as the petroleum prices across the world were on a decreasing trend the benefit on which should be passed on to the public. He had submitted that the incumbent government had failed to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens. He had requested to strike down levy of 17 percent sales tax on petroleum products.