KATHMANDU: The Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) on Sunday began legal proceedings against Chakrapath Fuel Centre, Balaju on a gasoline adulteration charge dating to February 12.
The gas station has been accused of selling contaminated diesel resulting in damage to the engine of a number of motor vehicles. Deepak Raj Pokharel, monitoring officer at the department, said that they had filed a case against the proprietor of the petrol pump at the Kathmandu District under Consumer Welfare Protection Act 1998.
The fuel sold at the petrol pump was found to contain a milky coloured sediment. Lab tests carried out by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology showed that the diesel sold by the pump was almost unfit for use and that it had damaged the engine of half a dozen vehicles.
“The flash point and viscosity of the diesel were found to be so low that it was like ordinary liquid and useless as fuel,” states the test report. Following the incident, the petrol pump owner had been forced to pay Rs223,300 as compensation to the vehicle owners.
A tanker with licence plate number Na 4 Kha 5368 was said to have brought the diesel from Nepal Oil Corporation’s (NOC) Thankot depot. According to the tanker driver Man Bahadur Thokar, he had delivered 8,000 litres of diesel to Chakrapath Fuel Centre and 4,000 litres each to SBA Petrol Pump, Nagdhunga and the Armed Police Force petrol pump at Halchok from the same batch. However, no complaints had been received about the quality of the gasoline at the other two gas stations.
The DoCSM had questioned the three parties involved, NOC, the tanker driver and the petrol pump, several times to find out who was responsible for the adulterated fuel.
Pokharel said the department had filed a case against the pump owner as per NOC’s Petroleum Sellers’ Bylaws 2014. According to the bylaw, petrol pumps are solely responsible for any irregularity once the petroleum products leave NOC’s depot.
