Sindh High Court reserves its decision on a petition alleging discriminatory and unlawful load-shedding by K-Electric in Karachi.
Web Desk: The Sindh High Court has reserved its verdict on a constitutional petition challenging what the petitioner described as unlawful and discriminatory load-shedding by K-Electric in Karachi.
The petition was filed by Syeda Maria Raza, a resident of Haji Lemu Goth in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 3, who alleged that even consumers who regularly pay their electricity bills are being subjected to load-shedding.
The court reserved its decision after hearing arguments from both sides.
Petitioner alleges violations of regulations
According to the petition, residents of areas adjacent to the Lyari Expressway, including Quaid-e-Azam Colony and Azim Goth, allegedly had outstanding electricity bills running into crores of rupees.
The petitioner claimed that despite these outstanding dues, K-Electric staff provided connections to residents of those areas from the Haji Lemu Goth PMT, according to the report.
The petitioner further alleged that her area’s category was changed because of electricity theft through illegal connections, commonly known as kundas, in areas with outstanding dues.
She maintained that the alleged change violated the K-Electric Distribution Rules 2005 and regulations issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
Petition seeks penalties against K-Electric
The petitioner asked the court to direct NEPRA to impose strict, daily penalties on K-Electric under Section 40(2) of the NEPRA Act.
She also requested an immediate halt to what she described as unjustified, discriminatory and unlawful load-shedding.
The petition further alleged that K-Electric officials had failed to comply with judicial and regulatory orders.
K-Electric challenges maintainability
K-Electric’s lawyer opposed the petition, arguing that the matter was not maintainable because NEPRA had already issued a stay order in favour of the petitioner.
The company’s counsel maintained that the existing regulatory proceedings meant the constitutional petition should not be entertained by the court.
After hearing the arguments, the Sindh High Court reserved its verdict.
Verdict awaited
The court’s decision is now awaited and could determine the next legal and regulatory steps concerning the petitioner’s allegations against K-Electric.
Until the verdict is announced, the allegations made in the petition remain claims before the court and have not been judicially established.
