Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday set a two-day deadline for all the stakeholders to come up with a "workable solution" for payment of over Rs.580 million dues Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has to pay to K-Electric (KE). At Karachi Registry, a two-member bench of the SC comprised of Justice Maqbool Baqir and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah resumed the hearing on the petition of KMC against disconnection of its power supply over non-payment of electricity dues.
Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar, officials of Sindh Government and representatives of KE appeared for the hearing of the petition, which was filed against the verdict of Sindh High Court (SHC), in which the KMC was ordered to pay outstanding dues to KE.
During the hearing, Justice Maqbool Baqir remarked that people are already passing through miseries, which God forbids can give to any grave crisis. He said that if the outstanding dues were not paid, it might paralyze the whole city.
"Why did the stakeholders not find out some workable solution to the problem as the court doesn't want to reprimand the responsible every time," he stated and added that the payment of this outstanding amount should not be a big issue as this city contribute the highest percentage in the national revenue.
Justice Baqir pointed out that only will and sense of responsibility on part of stakeholders is required for resolution of this issue and believed that this might turn out to be a big issue for the people of metropolis, if not tackled timely.
The court observed that Sindh and City Governments are showing their inability to pay the outstanding dues to scarcity of funds. The Mayor Karachi told the court that the KMC has been hit badly by the shortage of funds. Sindh Government attorney informed the court about the financial constraints of the provincial government.
The court, however observed that Sindh Government has not been facing the dearth of funds as it is pretending and remarked that whether this city should be left in the same conditions and directed the stakeholders to present a workable solution to the issue by Friday.
Meanwhile, the SC bench rejected the bail plea of main accused named Saleem in rape of 12-year old Hindu Girl Ansoo. However, the accused managed to escape from the court room after hearing the rejection of his plea.
The bench also showed annoyance of conducing DNA test of the accused after 22 days of the incident, which happened on February 14, 2019 in Umarkot district Sindh.
Justice Sajjad Shah remarked how the DNA of the accused would match after lapse of several days when the counsel of accused contended that DNA report doesn't show involvement of his client in the rape of 12 year-old girl.
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