Alleged defamation: KESC serves Rs1b notice to Karachi Chamber

KCCI president says industrialists only protested against 12-hour outages.

KARACHI: The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has served a legal notice on current and former presidents of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) for defaming the power company due to loadshedding in industrial areas.

The notice has demanded an unconditional apology and damages of Rs1 billion from KCCI chief Mian Abrar Ahmed and ex-president Siraj Kassim Teli for making defamatory remarks in the media on December 3.

Karachi industrialists
and KESC had been at loggerheads over power outages in industrial areas and the businessmen had protested against the company over the last few weeks on various fronts.

KESC, KCCI and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) had signed an agreement on November 26 in the presence of Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad and Federal Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Dr Asim Hussain for gas load management during the peak winter season and stopping power outages in industrial areas of Karachi.

KESC, in a press release, said the company complied with relevant provisions
including payment of Rs2 billion to SSGC on November 29 but to date SSGC had
not been able to supply the agreed quota of 180 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd).

In the legal notice, KESC warned that if the two industrialists failed to provide an unconditional and full apology within seven days, the company would commence legal proceedings against them for defamation and damages.

Reacting to the notice, KCCI President Mian Abrar Ahmed said he would appropriately respond to the legal notice in the shortest possible time. “Our answer in two lines is that KCCI represents 17,000 industrialists and businesspersons and whatever we do is to protect the interest of our members,” he said.

The performance of KESC is not hidden from the people of Karachi, he said, adding the industrialists had protested against 12-hour loadshedding which was not wrong.

Former president and leader of the ruling group in KCCI, Siraj Kassim Teli, was not available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2011.