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LAHORE, Feb 25: The Lahore High Court on Monday stayed the recovery of enhanced electricity charges with retrospective effect.
The order was passed by Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari on a public interest petition moved by Barrister Zafarullah Khan challenging imposition of additional charges by Wapda with retrospective effect from August and November, 2001. He said consumers had already paid for the power consumed by them and Wapda could not reopen past and closed transactions.
The petitioner also submitted on behalf of his Watan Party that the charges were not recoverable even prospectively as they discouraged consumption of electricity, which was essential for economic development. Because of Wapda’s failure to supply electricity at reasonable rates and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s failure to intervene on consumers’ behalf, industrialization has come to a standstill.
Wapda, he said, was recovering all sorts of charges and taxes under various heads and the electricity bill was several times the actual price of the units consumed.
Staying the retrospective recovery, the court issued notices to Wapda and Nepra.
ELEVATIONS: The Lahore High Court transferred all petitions questioning recent elevations to the Supreme Court and cancelled their hearing on Monday.
The federal government was to submit its reply before a division bench comprising Justices Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday. The bench was seized of two petitions filed by Advocates A.K. Dogar and M.D. Tahir at the principal seat, a petition moved by Advocate Mukhtar Farani at the Bahawalpur bench and admitted by Justice Ifitkhar Husain Chaudhry for hearing by a five-member bench of the senior most judges and another petition admitted by Justice Javed Buttar at the Rawalpindi bench.
The petitions were sought by the Supreme Court when it entertained an identical direct petition moved by the SC Bar Association and issued a notice to the attorney-general for Feb 27. The notice was issued by former chief justice Bashir Jehangiri but the new CJ, Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, put off the hearing to March 18. An SCBA executive meeting held in Lahore on Monday took a serious view of the delay.
