SC directs resolving issues between KMC and KE

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) had directed the Sindh chief secretary to hold a meeting of officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), K-Electric (KE) and the finance department to resolve the issue between the municipality and the power utility with regard to the outstanding electricity dues and infrastructure charges.

The direction came on Wednesday when the apex court heard the matter of non-payment of power dues by the KMC to the KE and outstanding infrastructure charges to be paid by the latter to the former.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar submitted that the KE had to pay Rs7 billion to the KMC as the power utility had been utilising the KMC’s land for installing its infrastructure.

A three-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the KE was not a welfare organisation but a foreign company that was doing business in the city. The apex court observed that the KE had already been earning profits and it would further want to fleece the citizens of Karachi.

The SC directed the chief secretary to convene a meeting of representatives of all the stakeholders, including the KMC, the KE, and the finance and the local bodies departments, and resolve the issue with regard to the payment of outstanding electricity dues and infrastructure charges between the KE and the KMC and submit a compliance report on the hearing.