PHC directs Pesco to ensure uninterrupted power at prisons

By Amjad Safi
August 01, 2024
In this file photo, a lawyer walks past the High Court building in Peshawar on April 20, 2021. — AFP/File
In this file photo, a lawyer walks past the High Court building in Peshawar on April 20, 2021. — AFP/File

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) to ensure uninterrupted power supply to prisons at night.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ijaz Anwar issued the directives during the hearing of a petition filed on behalf of a prisoner Khursheed Ali Khan serving life imprisonment at the Haripur Central Prison.

The bench further remarked that if deemed necessary, the court would direct the government to establish designated feeders for the prisons. The bench directed the government to address the problems of the inmates on priority basis.

Additional Chief Secretary Abid Majeed, Inspector General of Prisons Usman Mahsud, Pesco Chief Executive Akhtar Hameed Khan, Additional Advocate General Naumanul Haq Kakakhel, Peshawar High Court Bar Association President Fida Gul and others appeared before the bench.The chief justice asked the Pesco officials about the duration of electricity loadshedding at the prisons. He remarked that it was the duty of the government to provide facilities to the inmates. He said the prisoners had contracted various diseases due to the sweltering heat inside the jails.

Additional Chief Secretary Abid Majeed told the bench that the government was spending millions of rupees to provide facilities to the inmates. He said that fans and air-coolers were being installed at the prisons to provide respite to the prisoners in the hot weather. However, he said the government was facing a shortage of funds, which was hampering their work.

The additional chief secretary said the prisoners were taken out of the barracks so that they could breathe in fresh air. He said he was leading the committee on the provision of facilities to the prisons, adding that the feeders would soon be specified. The court directed the additional chief secretary to submit a report within 14 days about the provision of facilities at prisons. The court adjourned the hearing till August 13.