The petrol and diesel dealers and owners are now seeking legal opinions before taking the next step after the fuel prices came down, a day after the central government cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel.
Sources said that the fuel stations have stock for another 2-3 days, until that time they will finalize what to be done in the next couple of days.
On Monday, meetings among different fuel pump owners and their associations were held to decide the next course of action.
"We are seeking legal opinion before proceeding further as petrol and diesel pumps fall under essential goods and services. We have raised a few demands as well that we expect the government to seriously look into," said a fuel pump owner and member of the Petrol Dealers Association.
Some of the fuel pump owners claim that the stock of petrol and diesel is diminishing and needs to be refilled. However, they shall approach the oil marketing companies.
Sources said that the petrol and diesel pump owners from a few states are already contemplating to protest and not supply until their demands are met.
Some of these demands include reimbursement of money lost due to the reduction in taxes and duties that was done on a weekend while they refilled their tanks with previous prices as on May 20. They also want an increase in their commission which currently is less than 3 per cent.
In Mumbai, after the reduction of excise duty and the state's decision to reduce VAT, one litre of petrol will now cost Rs 109.27 and a litre of diesel Rs 95.84.
On May 21, the Centre reduced the excise duties on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 and Rs 6 per litre respectively. The reduction in excise duty meant the prices of petrol and diesel dipped by Rs 9.5 per litre and Rs 7 per litre respectively. It will have a revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the government.
Following this, on Sunday, May 22, the Maharashtra government announced the reduction in Value Added Tax (VAT) by Rs 2.08 per litre for Petrol and Rs 1.44 per litre for diesel, with immediate effect.
The Maharashtra government is expected to lose revenue of Rs 80 crore every month on petrol and Rs 125 crore per month on diesel following the reduction in VAT. The State claims to bear a revenue loss of Rs 2,500 crore annually.
