SHC issues contempt notice to KE, NEPRA officials over unannounced loadshedding

Appeal stressed the power utility had not improved its capability

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt of court notice to K-Electric CEO Tayyab Tareen, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Chairman Tariq Sadozi and others over unannounced loadshedding in the port city, Express News reported.



Hearing a petition filed by a resident, Karamat Ali, that referred to a 2017 judgment by the SHC declaring unannounced loadshedding as ‘unlawful’, the appeal stressed that the recent 'fault' at Bin Qasim power station demonstrated that the power utility had not improved its capability.

A contempt notice was also issued to Vice-Chairman of NEPRA Syed Mansoorul Haq and the chief operating officer-distribution and head of distribution of KE.

On Monday, Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi revealed that over 60 people died due to the heatwave in Karachi. Quoting relatives of the deceased, he said that the number of bodies in their mortuaries in Korangi area has tripled, while in Sohrab Goth, the flow has doubled since Saturday – the day the heatwave hit the metropolis.



He told The Express Tribune that more than 160 bodies have been reported at the two mortuaries, with the relatives of 60 claiming heatstroke to be the cause of death.

In 2015, civil society had petitioned the high court that over 1,000 persons had died and 40,000 others had suffered heat-strokes during the heatwave. They claimed K-E had failed to provide an uninterrupted power supply that could have eased the suffering of the citizens.