ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) on Wednesday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for making Privatisation Commission a party in the controversy of issuance of electricity distribution licence to Bahria Town (BT).

Citing National Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and BT as respondents, Iesco counsel Mohammad Asif Khan adopted in the petition that Nepra on November 24, 2010 had modified Iesco’s licence issued in 2001.

According to the licence, Iesco was the sole electricity distributor in the regions of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock till 2023.

The petition said that Nepra in an arbitrary manner issued a licence for the distribution of electricity to Bahria Town in November 2010, which enabled the housing society to act as a power distribution company in its nine phases situated in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The act of Nepra has caused irreparable loss to Iesco, which is a government-owned public limited company, it added.

The petition pointed out that allowing Bahria Town to sell electricity was equivalent to the privatisation of Iesco, where as Council of Common Interests (CCI) in its meeting of April 28, 2011, had declared that the privatisation of distribution companies could only be made with the consent of Privatisation Commission.

Under section 35 of the Privatisation Ordinance 2000, government enterprises could not perform any action that would result in damaging the interests of the company, it added.

The petition said that BT cannot sell electricity in the Iesco domain and the issuance of the licence to the housing company was illegal.

Iesco in its petition requested the court to add the Privatisation Commission as necessary party in the said case.