MUZAFFARABAD: A single member bench of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court in Mirpur circuit on Thursday suspended the operation of an AJK Electricity Department notification whereby the power tariff had allegedly been increased with retrospective effect.

The impugned notification, issued on November 28, 2013 with effect from January 1, 2013, also stated that any increase in power tariff by Wapda would be deemed to have taken effect in AJK, which the petitioners – Sardar Shafique and others – maintained was not in consonant with the agreement signed between the AJK government and Wapda at the time of Mangla Dam raising in June 2003.

Advocate Khalid Rashid, counsel for the petitioners, contended that the 2003 agreement also stipulated that any raise in power tariff (in AJK) would be applicable after negotiations with the AJK government and that the GST would not be levied on the AJK consumers.

However, he said, the AJK consumers were being constantly charged the GST in violation of that agreement.

The petitioner also informed the bench that the electricity bills for the month of August reflected the effect of the impugned notification.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014