KARACHI: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench in a petition filed against the impugned Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) levied by the Electric Supply Companies in the bills issued to it for the month of August 2022 had suspended on 29-08-2022 the FPA for the month of August 2022 and passed the following orders. "It is directed that the Petitioner shall pay the outstanding amount of electricity bill(s) for the month of August 2022 within due date except the FPA mentioned therein, for which, the Respondent(s) concerned shall issue revised bill(s) within next two working days. Judge Jawad Hassan issued notice to the Respondents for 15.09.2022 and said the Law Officer shall seek instructions from the relevant quarter(s) and also ensure submission of report/para-wise comments by the answering Respondents on or before the next date of hearing. 

The petition was filed by M/s Bahria Town Pvt. Ltd. against the Federation of Pakistan etc. M/s Syed Tassadaq Murtaza Naqvi and Syed Tassadaq Mustafa Naqvi, Advocates along with Muhammad Adnan Awan, are Advocates for the Petitioner. The Petitioner filed this writ petition against the impugned Fuel Price Adjustment (the “FPA”) levied by the Respondent/ Electric Supply Company in the bills issued to it for the month of August 2022.

According to the Court order, pertinent to mention here is that before issuing any notice to the Respondents, this Court has to be satisfied whether the NEPRA has authority to impose the impugned FPA because though it has powers under Section 7 of the Act to determine the tariff rate charges but subject to following the procedure provided under Section 31 of the Act while in this case, the said procedure has not been followed, which is against the provisions of Article 10-A of the Constitution, granting the right of fair trial and due process to every citizen of this country. 

Syed Tassadaq Mustafa Naqvi, Advocate submitted that the impugned FPA goes against the format/ assessment scheme/ mechanism given in Chapter 6 of the Consumer Service Manual issued by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (the “NEPRA”) and has been charged illegally and unlawfully because it is also contrary to the notifications issued by the NEPRA from time to time, specifically notification dated 01.01.2019.

The Advocate submitted that on the issue in hand this Court has already entertained a number of other writ petitions and also granted interim relief in those petitions on the grounds that such charges have been imposed with retrospective effect and subsequently, by incorporating a proviso to Section 31(4) of the Regulation of Generation, Transmission, and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997 (the “Act”) and also in violation of the Doctrine of Vested Right and Past & Closed Transaction. 

Tassadaq Naqvi strengthened the Petitioner’s case by relying on the constitutional provisions contained in Article 3 (right to elimination of exploitation), Article 18 (right to business and trade) and while arguing that the right to electricity is the basic fundamental right of the Petitioner as expanded by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the judgment reported as Naimatullah Khan Advocate and others versus Federation of Pakistan and others (2020 SCMR 622) holding that “right to life was not restricted only to the prosecution of a person but the State was required to ensure that all aspects of citizens’ life were protected and dealt with by the State”, prays for grant of interim relief as already issued by this Court in a number of writ petitions.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 13 2022

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