Authority: ‘Ombudsman can’t take up complaints about utility bills’

Ombudsman’s plea challenging court’s order dismissed.

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench dismissed on Thursday an intra court appeal by federal ombudsman challenging a single bench’s order barring him from hearing complaints related to electricity and gas bills.

Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Faisal Zaman Khan had reserved the verdict after hearing the petition on Wednesday.

Earlier, Shahzad Shaukat, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that an LHC single bench had barred his client from hearing complaints regarding gas and electricity bills.

He said the ombudsman was empowered to hear such complaints and that the court could not impose such a ban. He said the ombudsman was authorised to take up all kinds of complaints.

“The ombudsman is not only authorised to hear complaints against utility bills but also those related to malpractice,” Shaukat said.

He said that even the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Ordinance did not bar the ombudsman from hearing the aforementioned complaints.

He requested the court to set aside the single bench’s order.

Umar Sharif, counsel for the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, opposed the request submitting that the court order was lawful because the ombudsman did not have the authority to hear complaints related to utility bills.

He said other appropriate forums were available for the purpose. The ombudsman, he said, did not have the skilled staff to deal with such matters.

The bench then dismissed the appeal.

Murder suspect  granted bail

Justice Abdul Sami Khan of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted bail to Uzma Rao alias Tooba in the murder case of a private TV channel’s cameraman.

She is also charged with the murder of her friend Abeera.

Her counsel submitted that forensic examination of Yousuf Khokhar’s body had revealed that he had died of a heart attack.

A prosecutor submitted that Tooba was the prime suspect in the murder and did not deserve bail as the trial was underway.

After hearing the arguments, the court granted her bail against Rs0.2 million surety bonds.



In March, police had claimed that Tooba had confessed to poisoning Khokhar, by spiking his juice with cyanide at the Model Town Park where his body was later found in November, 2014.

She told police that she had killed Khokhar because he had provided some of her pictures to her former husband Babar Javed Butt, who had then divorced her.

According to the investigator of the case, Tooba had filed a rape complaint against Butt in 2010. She had withdrawn the complaint after Butt agreed to marry her.

“Tooba said she had killed Abeera after the latter refused to cooperate in killing Butt. Tooba said that she wanted to take revenge from her ex-husband for his cruelty. She held Butt responsible for the death of their two-month-old daughter,” the officer said.

“Abeera had wanted to be a model. She had met Tooba on December 24, 2014, at a local hotel and sought her help. Later, the two had started living together at Tooba’s house,” the police officer said.

Tooba was identified by Abeera’s family from CCTV footage from a bus stand where she left a suitcase containing Abeera’s body.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2015.