Lahore High Court’s chief justice observed on Thursday that there should be no discrimination when it comes to load shedding and load-management should be implemented in private housing societies where no power outages occur.
Hearing a petition against unscheduled load-shedding and the exemption of VVIPs from load-shedding, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial questioned why a system similar to that managed by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) was not implemented in other cities.
He expressed his belief that such a plan, which has led to a decrease in power outages in Karachi, would also be functional in other cities.
The court delayed the hearing till November 6 after the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) asked for more time to file a reply.
Judicial Activism Panel chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique moved a petition requesting that power supply authorities be directed to submit a load shedding schedule for the President House, Prime Minister House, chief ministers’ houses and other senior officials before the court. He also requested the court to direct the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Wapda, Pakistan Electric Power Company and Lahore Electric Supply Company to submit details disclosing information about electricity production sources through thermal, coal, gas, furnace oil or solar.
Siddique stated that the money being collected under the head of fuel adjustment and other surcharges was being paid to rental power projects, and, therefore, these surcharges could not be collected from citizens.
He added that the people of Pakistan were facing gas and as well as electricity crises but were forced to pay utility bills as demanded by Sui gas authorities and Wapda including all kinds of surcharges.
Siddique requested an end the unannounced electricity load shedding and a disclosure of the cost of electricity production and subsequent earnings. In reply, Pepco counsel Khwaja Tariq Rahim said that the government was taking measures against electricity theft. Rahim also held that a payment of Rs24 billion has been made to independent power plants to lessen power outages.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2012.
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