Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) on Tuesday, reprimanded federal government and K-Electric over unexplained and prolonged load shedding in Karachi.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed presided over a hearing on prolonged power outages in Karachi and slammed federal government and K-Electric over their failure to address load shedding issue in the metropolis.
During the hearing CJP Gulzar Ahmed remarked that K-Electric, city’s sole power supply company is not accountable to any one, not even the federal government and acts as its above the law itself.
The court noted that a large portion of the city suffers from unexplained power outages for days.
“KE is not treating Karachi right,” said Justice Gulzar Ahmed.
He also criticized government’s failure to address the situation stating that the federal government has in fact become a clerk for the power supplier, instead of keeping check and balances as it should.
The top judge also lambasted Power Division over its failure to satisfy the court of the measures being taken to address the issue.
“We should fire the joint-secretary over this report. We had asked for a report on the current situation and he has given us a report about the future,” said CJP.
Additionally, the court also vacated the stay orders secured by K-Electric against National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), barring the latter from taking any action against the electricity supply company.
Furthermore, Supreme Court has directed NEPRA to review and revise exclusive rights given to K-Electric to provide electricity to the metropolitan city.
The development comes as Karachi has been subjected to prolonged power outages extending to as much as 72 hours in some areas.
