High court dismisses KE’s appeal against road project in North Nazimabad

Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the K-Electric’s (KE) appeal seeking a restraining order against the Sindh government’s direction to the power utility for relocating the underground cables, as well as stopping the reconstruction of a road project at Shahrah-e-Noor Jahan from Abdullah College to Qalandria Chowk in North Nazimabad. The KE had filed the high court appeal against the high court’s single judge order that dismissed the KE application seeking the restraining.

The power utility submitted that the Sindh government was liable to pay Rs394,824,829 for the purpose of relocating underground electric cables and until such payment was made, the construction of road be stopped.

The KE’s counsel submitted that under the consumer service manual, the cost of relocating underground electric cables had to be borne by the defendants, due to which the defendants should be restrained from carpeting the road as they would bury the electric cables underneath, preventing quick access in the event of fault.

The project manager had submitted in the lawsuit that underground cables were revealed upon excavation and thus the amount demanded by the KE was not envisaged in the project cost. He adding that those cables had been laid haphazardly without following the standard operating procedure (SOP). He submitted that had the KE followed the SOP, the defendants would have known that the cables were lying underneath before commencing the construction work, and would have made arrangements with the KE beforehand.

He submitted that the KE was not required to relocate the cables but only to align them in a channel on one side and for such reason, the defendants were not liable to make any payment to the KE.

The provincial law officer submitted that the appeal against the interim order was unmerited as the construction of a main artery serving the city of Karachi could not be left in limbo. He submitted that the KE had stationed exposed electrical cables along the road and the same not only hindered the infrastructural development but also posed a grave risk to the general public.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Agha Faisal after hearing the arguments observed that primarily the appellant was seeking a money decree, which was pending and the outcome would determine whether the appellant was entitled to the amount claimed or otherwise.

The SHC observed that its single bench had apportioned greater weightage to the public interest in the completion of the civic infrastructural project opposed to the claim of a corporate entity seeking to secure an amount that it may become entitled to, should the final determination of the suit be rendered in its favour.

The bench observed that no interference was merited in the impugned order, and dismissed the KE’s appeal.