The bench, headed by Chief Justice Justice Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry and comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawad S Khwaja, will hear the case on July 10.Eight IPPs that earlier invoked the sovereign guarantee had filed the petition to initiate legal action domestically instead of approaching the international arbitrators.

Sources in the IPP Advisory Committee said even after failing to convince the government to act upon its guarantee, the IPPs were not approaching international forum which could have had a severe repercussion and could result in seizure of all foreign business activities, including opening of letter of credits (LCs), etc.

The petition filed by eight IPPs highlights the non-serious attitude of the Government of Pakistan, which failed to pay the dues of Rs61.401 billion to the IPPs during the last couple of months, which had worsened the power crisis in the country.

This amount includes the capacity payment of Rs19.379 billion, energy payment of Rs37.846 billion, and other payments of Rs4.176 billion.Those included in the petition are Liberty Tech, Orient Power, Atlas Power, Nishat Power, Nishat Chunian, Saif Power, Halmore Power and Sapphire Electric, seeking payment of outstanding dues of Rs11.131 billion, Rs4.121 billion, Rs10.478 billion, Rs9.661 billion, Rs10.899 billion, Rs5.722 billion, Rs2.415 billion and Rs6.974 billion respectively.