The court criticizes K-electric and NEPRA for their prolonged load shedding.

According to specifics, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) petitioned the SHC to stop the city’s unexpected load shedding. Dismayed by the ongoing power failures, the court ordered NEPRA to send a technical team to evaluate the situation in Karachi, where people experience extended load shedding, with certain regions seeing 12 to 18 hours of outages every day.

The case’s presiding judge, Justice Faisal Kamal Alam, blasted K-Electric and NEPRA, raising doubts about the infrastructure upgrades made to the utility since it was privatized.

The judge questioned, “What has K-Electric done to enhance its infrastructure and utility services?” pointing out that even small rains in Karachi cause power outages that last three hours or longer. The court also asked if NEPRA had a technical staff that could carry out this kind of survey.

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NEPRA’s legal representative told the court that K-Electric has received show-cause notifications from the regulator, along with fines, including a recent Rs. 20 million penalty. “What difference have these fines made to load shedding or the health of Karachi’s residents?” the judge asked, dismissing the effectiveness of the sanctions.

The court was not pleased with NEPRA’s response either, as its attorney said, “We do what is within our authority,” which prompted the bench to look into it further.

In their petition, Jamaat-e-Islami cited the detrimental effects of unexpected load shedding on Karachi’s companies and citizens, and they accused K-Electric of not providing dependable electricity even after it was privatized.

The Sindh High Court has called for accountability, raising concerns about whether Karachi’s load shedding problem has been fixed and what concrete infrastructure upgrades K-Electric has made over the years.

Regarding Jamaat Islami’s case against line losses-based load shedding in Karachi, it is important to note that during the previous hearing, the Sindh High Court sent notices to K-Electric and other defendants.