Unpaid electricity dues: Over 200,000 defaulters face crackdown next month

Their names will be made public if dues aren’t cleared by April 4.

ISLAMABAD:

The country’s apex accountability body is all set to crack down on over 200,000 defaulters –who account for around Rs166 billion worth of unpaid electricity bills – unless they submit their dues by April 4. Once the deadline expires, the names of the remaining defaulters will be made public.

“Still failing to pay the amount will result in arrest,” said National Accountability Bureau Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari in a special talk with select journalists on Thursday. “NAB will start arresting defaulters from April 20,” he added.

Disclosing defaulters’ names is likely to affect the outcome of the upcoming polls. The revelation would come at a time when the Election Commission is scrutinising the nomination forms of prospective candidates.

During his talk, Bokhari said NAB officers had been deployed at all electricity distribution centres to keep a record of defaulters who pay their dues and inform the head office. The names of the remaining defaulters would be compiled in a list following the expiry of the deadline, he said.

Scrutiny of nomination papers

To support ECP in scrutinising nomination papers, NAB has established special cells at the headquarters and all regional bureaus under the supervision of a senior officer, said the bureau chairman. He said NAB was mandated to provide the commission with a list of convicts. It would also include details of loan default cases, he added.

“The election cells at NAB would collect, confirm and correct the requisite data by April 5 and send it to the ECP,” said Bokhari.

‘I will accept court’s decision’

When asked about the decision on a pending Supreme Court petition that can send the NAB chairman home, Bokhari said he would accept the court’s decision, whatever it was.

“But I have never intended to resign and I will not resign,” said the NAB chairman.

Talking about his letter to the president saying the SC was hampering NAB investigations, Bokhari said it was a principle set by the SC itself that the courts cannot monitor ongoing probes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2013.