Justice delayed: FESCO set to ‘compensate’ for death

Execution order issued in a case that has been in the court for over two decades.

FAISALABAD:

Last week, the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) was penalised for delaying payment of compensation to a widow. The case has been in court for more than two decades.

Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the FESCO to pay her Rs2.1 million instead of Rs480,000, the original compensation ordered by a court. The execution of the order was announced on March 19, last week.

Shahid Nadeem, a resident of Ashraf Colony, Bhalwal, had died of electric shock from a Water and Power Development Authority Faisalabad livewire near his house on March 18, 1988. His widow had filed a petition for compensation. The court had announced the decision on June 27, 1994, ordering WAPDA to pay her Rs480,000.

The WAPDA then challenged the decision before High Court which upheld the decision on January 11, 2007. However, the FESCO filed an appeal against the decision with the Supreme Court. That appeal was dismissed on December 11, 2008.



When the FESCO still didn’t pay her compensation, the woman filed another petition demanding the execution of court orders on the matter. On February 20, 2012, the court ordered the FESCO to pay her Rs480,000 and Rs1.64 million as damages.

FESCO then filed an appeal on May 29, 2012 against the ruling. After two more appeals were dismissed by the lower courts, the FESCO approached the High Court for a stay order against the execution of the court’s orders.  After hearing both sides, the High Court directed the FESCO to pay the compensation, damages and Rs50,000 fine to the woman.

Finally, the FESCO went to the Supreme Court. Decades after the case was first filed, the Supreme Court ordered FESCO to pay the woman Rs2.1 million compensation, damages and fine. The civil court ordered the execution of the Supreme Court’s orders on March 19.  The FESCO authorities are now making arrangements to pay the woman. Records show that the FESCO has paid her Rs869,345 so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2014.