The federal government has turned down the Ministry of Water And Power’s request to establish special courts for dealing power theft cases, a source in the law ministry told Pakistan Today on Saturday.
The source said the request was rejected due to the financial crunch; however, the government agreed to increase punishment for the crime. Under the existing laws, electricity theft can cause a fine of Rs 50,000 and imprisonment of up to two months, while the Ministry of Water and Power Ministry has proposed jail of up to one year and a fine of up to Rs 500,000. The proposed increase in punishment will have to be passed by the parliament.
Energy sector authorities believe current laws are not sufficient to check for the rising trend in power thefts which contributes to load-shedding and financially burdens the honest consumers. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank had also recommended the Pakistani government to change mechanism for dealing with power thieves as they believed that big business groups and industrialists are also involved in this malpractice. ‘Kunda system’ has turned out to be a menace, particularly in Karachi and remote areas of the country, which leads to unjustified use of electricity.