LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has upheld the federal government’s policy to monetise free electricity units for officers of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and power distribution companies, it emerged on Friday.

As per the ruling, the benefit was a non-statutory service perk and could be lawfully altered as part of administrative and financial reforms.

Justice Malik Javid Iqbal Wains announced the verdict dismissing a constitutional petition challenging a notification issued by the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) on December 5, 2023.

The impugned notification introduced a policy to monetise free electricity units previously provided to officers in BPS-17 and above working in Wapda and ex-Wapda entities, including distribution and generation companies.

Previously, officers from BPS-18 to 22 were given a total of 75 million units of electricity collectively, costing up to Rs4-4.5 billion annually.

Under the policy, officers are now required to pay electricity bills, while a fixed monetary amount — based on earlier entitled units — has been incorporated into their pay.

The petitioner — Gujranwala Electric Power Company Engineers & Officers Association — through its chairman, had argued that free electricity units formed part of their service conditions and had been consistently enjoyed since their induction.

Senior lawyer Ramzan Chaudhry represented the association during the proceedings and argued that the withdrawal of the facility was illegal, discriminatory and unconstitutional, particularly as lower-grade employees (BPS-1 to 16) continued to receive the benefit.

However, Assistant Attorney General Malik Tanvir Awan defended the federal government’s policy, stating that the move was aimed at financial rationalisation of the power sector, which is facing severe challenges, including circular debt and operational losses.

He maintained that the facility had not been withdrawn but merely converted into a monetary component to streamline administrative processes, reduce inefficiencies and address issues such as delayed recoveries and duplication.

In his judgment, Justice Wains framed a key question as whether free electricity units constituted a vested or statutory right enforceable through constitutional jurisdiction.

The judge ruled that the facility of free electricity units was a service-linked privilege, not a statutory or vested right.

No legal provision or statutory rule was presented to establish the benefit as an enforceable entitlement, the judgment said.

In the judgment, Justice Wains observed that the monetisation policy was a legitimate executive decision, taken as part of broader financial restructuring and did not suffer from illegality or arbitrariness.

Rejecting claims of discrimination, he held that officers in BPS-17 and above constitute a distinct cadre and that differential treatment based on reasonable classification does not violate constitutional guarantees.

Justice Wains concluded that economic and fiscal policy decisions fell within the executive’s domain and courts cannot substitute their judgment unless a clear constitutional violation is demonstrated.

The judgment cautioned against judicial overreach, noting, “Interference of this nature would also run contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers.” The judge also dismissed arguments that the impugned policy violated fundamental rights.

“Accordingly, the impugned notification dated Dec 5, 2023, [..] does not warrant any interference by this court and the same is hereby upheld,” the judgment concluded.

Meanwhile, Power Minister Awais Leghari welcomed the development in a post on X, stressing that abolishing the benefit was a “very old and long-standing demand of the people”.

“Alhamdulillah, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the free units of the power sector employees have been abolished,” the minister said.

He vowed that the power sector “will take every step for the collective betterment of the country and the nation”.

Additional input from Khaleeq Kiani