AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday asked Federal government to file reply within two weeks regarding 31 percent increase in electricity tariff. A single-member bench of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam issued the directions on the petition of NWFP government against recent hike in electricity tariff and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
The court asked the Deputy Attorney General Amjad Iqbal Qureshi to file the reply on behalf of the federal government. It also extended the stay for two weeks, issued against National Electric Power Regulatory Authority's (Nepra) decision to increase the electricity rates. Counsel for Peshawar Electrical Supply Company (PESCO) informed the court that he has filed a reply before the court on behalf of his client.
Earlier, Nepra had filed its reply in the case requesting the court to dismiss the petition of NWFP government as it has no locus standi to file the petition. The NWFP government in its petition said that the rate of poverty in the province is already higher than other parts of the country. Therefore, it would be unfair to overburden these poor people of the country.
The petition said that a large portion of population of the province is already living below the poverty line so these poor people are just unable to suffer this recent hike in the electricity prices.
The government has been facing severe criticism across the country for increasing the power tariff. It announcement gave birth to a spate of protest demonstrations across the country. These forced the government to revise its decision.Thus to give some relief the government decided to collect 60 percent amount of the total bill for the month of September. However, the government has yet to make a final decision to reduce the electricity rates.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.