Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khurshid Shah said he was surprised to know that the KESC management had twice refused to appear before the house privileges committee and warned that sessions court could be approached to get them arrested and brought to the committee. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The government warned the Karachi Electricity Supply Company on Thursday it would be forced to take it over if its management failed to meet its obligations, including reinstatement of all sacked employees.

He said that FIRs would be lodged against the KESC management if any employee on hunger strike died during the protest.

The minister said he was surprised to know that the KESC management had twice refused to appear before the house privileges committee and warned that sessions court could be approached to get them arrested and brought to the committee.

He said the KESC management had failed to make investment for upgrading the system in accordance with terms of the agreement.

Under the agreement, the company was required to invest $500 million over three years.

He said he had written letters to the governor and chief minister of Sindh and was also writing to the Ministry of Water and Power, explaining the breach of the agreement by the KESC management.

He said the KESC had the capacity to generate 3,000MW of electricity, but it was not doing so to avoid spending on furnace oil.

Earlier, former federal minister Mian Raza Rabbani said the KESC management had failed to fulfil terms and conditions of the agreement and asked the government to act under the law to take over the KESC management.

He said over 4,000 sacked employees of KESC had been reinstated as a result of an agreement, but the process of victimisation had been resumed and show-cause notices had been issued to a number of employees. He said that anti-labour management considered itself to be above the law and parliament.

Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said the KESC was supposed to invest Rs6 million on repairs of cables and transformers, but it had failed to do so. He said four areas in Karachi had been without electricity for three days and several areas were facing loadshedding of up to 18 hours.

He disclosed that two senators who went to visit the KESC offices were stopped by armed men. He said the district and sessions judge should be approached to bring the KESC management to parliament under the law, after their refusal to come on summons.

The house also witnessed a heated discussion on the May 12, 2007, incident when around 50 people proceeding to receive the then deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, were killed.

Several senators called for a high-level judicial probe into the incident, unmasking the culprits and punishing to those responsible for the incident.

Some senators suggested that the chief justice should himself supervise the process. They said it was not secret who had done it and who had surrounded the Sindh High Court which had taken suo motu notice of the incident.

Mr Rabbani was of the view that the best way to pay tribute to martyrs of May 12 was to try former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution for trampling the Constitution.