- LHC seeks report from Water and Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Finance ministries
Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday sought a report from the ministries of Water and Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources and Finance on a petition against power outages.
The CJ passed the orders on a petition filed by the Judicial Activism Panel. As proceedings started, the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that the Water and Power Ministry in its reply had admitted that a private housing scheme was exempted from load shedding, which was a discriminatory act.
The CJ asked the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Muhammad Saleem to apprise about the steps taken in the matter. The LESCO CEO replied that he had written a letter but no action had yet been taken on it. The CJ directed the LESCO CEO to file a detailed reply in this regard. The CJ also asked the LESCO CEO to submit a report regarding steps taken against power theft.
The petitioner’s counsel, Azhar Siddique, said that the electricity sector was running in profit till it was managed by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). WAPDA was earning a profit of Rs 19 billion whereas currently the losses had reached to Rs 600 billion owing to corruption as high officials were appointed in production and management companies after receiving money, he alleged.
Azhar said that the WAPDA chairman was assigned in February 2013 to co-ordinate with NTDC, GENCOs, PEPCO and DISCOs, which improved the recovery and Rs 10 billion was received. However, a few people do not like it and now the line losses have reached to 38 percent, he added.
The CJ observed that no one knew how much furnace oil was being imported and used. To a court query, a Finance Ministry’s official submitted that Rs 367 billion had been paid. The judge asked him to submit a detailed report in this regard.
The Petroleum Ministry’s official said that the gas was being supplied for electricity generation. When the CJ asked whether the gas was being supplied to Ouch Power Plant, the officer replied that he did not have any information in this regard.
The CJ directed him to submit details of gas supplied to power plants in one year by June 4 and adjourned the hearing.