Failing to reach a consensus on any further duty cuts on crude and petro products, the government on Friday decided to defer any upward revision in the prices of petrol and diesel even as crude prices continued to rule high at around $55 per barrel.Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said, ‘‘the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has decided that prices of all petroleum products will be held at the same level. There will be no increase for this fortnight.’’ Public sector oil companies were to meet on Friday to review prices of petrol and diesel, which have remained unchanged since August 1 despite crude prices rising by as much as $20 a barrel.According to sources, the petroleum ministry wanted to negate the impact of high crude and product prices through a mix of duty cuts and mild price revision for petrol and diesel. However, the finance and petroleum ministry could not reach a consensus on the proposed duty cuts. Since, duty cuts could not be discussed, the oil ministry was not in a position to find out by how much the prices should be increased in case of petrol and diesel and hence decided to hold the price for another fortnight, sources said.Aiyar also stated that a decision on revising prices was not taken due to absence of senior ministers such of Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad. ‘‘Discussions would also have to be held with our other coalition partners and Left parties (before hiking fuel prices),’’ he added.
