LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered the federal government to finalise the matter of provision of electricity to a village in Layyah district till Aug 3.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the residents of Lalazar village in Layyah district who had been living without electricity 75 years after creation of Pakistan.

Petitioner lawyer Azhar Siddique appeared before the court and said that it was a violation of the basic rights of the residents of Lalazar village.

Additional Attorney General Nasar Ahmed appeared in the court on behalf of the federal government.

Justice Shan Gull adjourned the hearing and directed the government to submit a reply after finalising the matter on the next hearing of the case on August 3.

TAX IN POWER BILLS: A trader on Monday challenged the inclusion of tax in his electricity bill in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Advocate Mian Ehsan had filed the petition against including sales tax in the electricity bill on the complaint of a trader, Nasir Suleman.

The trader filed the petition, making the president and prime minister a party through the principal secretary. He also made the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Wapda chairman, federal law minister and information minister a party in the case.

He said the tax slab was illegally imposed on small traders and retailers and the tax was also imposed on using one unit of electricity.

He said the government was chanting fake slogans against inflation and the court should question the prime minister for imposing new taxes and increasing prices of petrol, gas, electricity and other items.

He appealed to the court to call the statistics department to submit an annual report on inflation and declare collection of sales tax on electricity and water bills illegal.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2022