Tariff hike: NEPRA chairman issued notice

IHC issues pre-admission notice to Chairman Nepra for issuing notification for increase in power tariff.

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a pre-admission notice to Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday for issuing a notification for increase in power tariff on account of fuel price adjustment.

Barrister Abubakar Sehri had moved the court on Wednesday, saying the act of retrospective recovery is ‘illegal’ and amounts to robbing innocent citizens. Sehri had asked the court to declare Nepra’s earlier notification of charging fuel price adjustment ‘illegal, unlawful and without any force of law with retrospective effect’.

He had requested the court to direct the Nepra chairman to either adjust or refund the amount charged to electricity consumers as a result of the notification. Justice Kansi did not fix the petition for regular hearing, but issued a notice to Nepra chairman to file comments in 15 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.