Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reserved its verdict on a petition against ‘unannounced’ power load-shedding being carried out by K-Electric (K-E) in parts of Karachi.

The SHC’s two-judge bench, which heard a petition filed by civil society members seeking judicial inquiry into the deaths of as many 1,000 citizens during the heat wave and prolonged power outages in the city in 2015.

The court had, last week directed K-E authorities to appear in person to explain the measures they were adopting to control the unannounced power suspension in the metropolis. Meanwhile, Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has also filed a petition in the SHC against the K-E management for carrying out power cuts in the city.

K-E CEO, Federal Ministry of Water and Power, Sindh chief secretary, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and others have been named respondents in the plea.

The petitioners, including singer Shahzad Roy, said that over 1,000 persons had died and 40,000 others had suffered heat-strokes during the heat wave but, despite several warnings, the federal and provincial governments failed to understand the seriousness of climate change.

They blamed the federal and provincial governments for not declaring a state of emergency until June 23 – when 426 people had already died. The petitioners claimed that K-Electric had failed to provide uninterrupted power supply that could have eased the suffering of the citizens.

Therefore, they had pleaded to the court to constitute a judicial commission, headed by a retired judge of either the high court or Supreme Court, to establish reasons for the deaths and hold the government functionaries responsible for their failure in taking preventive measures.

The court was also requested to ascertain K-E’s role during the heat wave, as it had failed to provide uninterrupted supply of power to citizens. The Sindh High Court (SHC) asked K-Electric officials about measures taken to cut down the hours of load shedding in the city.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, said an entire area should not be deprived of electricity if one person defaults on paying the bills. He added that even if it is the matter of theft, the person committing the crime should bear the brunt of the power cuts, not those in the adjoining houses.

He added that K-Electric should provide electricity to the citizens under the national power policy. Officials of the power utility were also present at the hearing. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the power utility to not cut-off power supply during Ramazan, the lawyer maintained. But regardless, 80 percent of the areas in Karachi were in the dark during sehri on the first day of Ramazan this year.

The court then reserved its decision and will announce it later in the day. On May 24, SHC Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, heading the bench, had come down hard on the city’s sole power utility, saying they will not sit idle while unannounced load shedding continues to cause distress to residents.