SHC adjourns hearing on unannounced power outages till Dec 12

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday adjourned hearing of a contempt of court plea against the K-Electric and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) over unannounced power outages in Karachi.

A SHC bench ordered all parties of the case to ensure their presence in the next hearing and adjourned the case till December 12, due to the absence of the counsel of Nepra.

The petitioner’s counsel Faisal Siddiqui said in the court that in every hearing someone found absent causing adjournment of the case. The counsel argued that the case is concerned with the problem faced by the entire city and added that the enforcement of the court’s earlier order will resolve the 50 percent of the problem.

Petitioner Karamat Ali, pleaded to the court that the court’s May 22, 2018 order being subjected to violation. The court had ordered the regulator to take action against the power utility K-Electric.

The petition sought contempt of the court proceedings against the K-Electric and others for non compliance of the court order.

The petition said that during the heatwave in the city hundreds of citizens were died due to power load shedding. The power utility was still carrying out unannounced load shedding, which is equal to contempt of the court, the petition said.

The petition sought contempt proceedings against the power utility and the regulatory authority.