LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended recovery of DS (Debt Servicing) surcharge from electricity consumers at the rate of 30 paisa per unit levied by the federal government.

Justice Shahid Karim issued notices to the government and other respondents for Jan 15, 2015 and also sought assistance from the attorney general of Pakistan.

Representing petitions against the surcharge, Advocate Azhar Siddique argued that the impugned levy was unjust. He said DS surcharge was actually a government’s failure to recover electricity dues from government institutions and now burden was being shifted to all consumers.

The counsel asked the court to strike down the surcharge for being in violation of fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2014