Unpaid royalties: K-P to file three court petitions for due shares

Head of the provincial ruling party says K-P is not getting anything for the electricity, water and gas it produces

ISLAMABAD:

Authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have decided to move the apex court against the federal government, seeking the province’s due share in different sectors including water, electricity and gas, a senior law officer of K-P told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

The official said that three petitions will be filed before the Supreme Court next week to raise the province’s monetary claims.

According to him, the provincial government will acquire the services of a private counsel to pursue these matters before the Supreme Court. The counsel will probably be engaged by Monday or Tuesday and then he will move petitions on behalf of the provincial government.



Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has already alleged that the K-P is not being given any royalty over the electricity, water and gas it gives to other provinces. He stated that the federation is trying to fail the K-P government, adding that they will take the matter to the Supreme Court.

PTI chief also alleged that the federal government is not cooperating with the provincial government on the issue of internally displaced persons. He also said that the provincial government is bearing the burden of 3 million displaced persons but the federation is not cooperating at all.



Last month, K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak had also threatened to approach the top court in a bid to claim the province’s financial shares. He had pointed out that the federal government fixed the royalty on electricity at Rs6 billion per annum in 1992 but is not ready to revise the rate in accordance with the current power tariff, which has increased manifold.

“The province has an outstanding amount of more than Rs57 billion pending against the federal government in terms of net hydel profit,” he said. Khattak explained that “this was only the direct pending amount — the indirect amount is even bigger if we add the interest in it”.

Besides, Khattak also alleged the federal government for not allowing the province to use its surplus 100 mmcfd gas for electricity generation, “I think this is a violation of the 18th Amendment under which the provinces are autonomous over the use of their resources.”

K-P officials have already approached the superior courts against the privatisation of 10 per cent shares of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL). The matter is still pending in the apex court. where Wasim Sajjad is representing the K-P government

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2014.