KARACHI: The city’s power utility, K-Electric (KE), on Monday was stopped from collecting municipal charges in its bills, noting that residents cannot face the possibility of losing their power if they do not pay the power bill because of auxiliary charges which are not linked to their power consumption.

This was directed by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday while hearing an application filed by a citizen against the power utility collecting municipal charges. The case was heard by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi.

During the hearing, the court asked why K-Electric was collecting municipal charges. It observed that citizens were now dumping their garbage in the trucks of the power utility.

Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab appeared before the bench and explained that the charges were being collected in line with a resolution first passed by the city district government in 2008. He added that the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) has since tried to collect the charges on its own but has remained unsuccessful; hence KE was requested to collect it on their behalf.