Had the prolonged litigation involving Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) been an issue, the government would have introduced an ordinance regarding the speedy disposal of such cases. Instead, it went for striking a lucrative amnesty deal with the corporate world, which the media has been reporting as the waiver of loans for weeks. After criticism grew and refused to die away, the government came up with a flurry of explanations, and most of them lame, to ward off the concerns of the public over the GIDC development. The whole saga began when the government allowed 50 per cent waiver of Rs420 billion GIDC to fertiliser plants, power plants and other businesses before audit through a presidential ordinance, and all in a clandestine manner. Calling it a move for out-of-court-settlement of the ‘disputed’ GIDC, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar hailed the development as a step forward to regulate and reform the energy sector. They also announced revoking several overlapping laws, regulations and approval procedures to boost the energy sector and improve the country’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business index. Now, the federal cabinet has decided to look into the possibility of changing the recently introduced GIDC Amendment Ordinance, 2019, besides the possibility of a forensic audit before the presidential amnesty is allowed. Our country is full of such amnesty deals for big businesses but their trickle down effects hardly ease lives of common people. Earlier, in 2017, the previous government also extended such favours to the CNG sector; this never ends. The recent waiver also never benefitted the farmers in terms of cheap fertilisers despite the minister’s claim that the cut in GIDC dues would reduce prices. Also, most of the ordinance beneficiaries are close to the corridors of power, inciting conflict of interest. Litigation involving tax matters often takes decades to conclude, and in such a scenario, even if the government is able to retrieve half of the Rs 420 billion, it is seen as a success. But what is making the matter muddier is the conduct of the government. A better way would have been to take the matter to parliament. The government must learn that transparency leads to better governance. *