LAHORE:The Lahore High Court on Monday regretted that the federal government failed to facilitate industries on account of payments of utility bills during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
The LHC directed the SNGPL to restore gas supply to the petitioner-company subject to payment of first installment in addition to reconnection charges, if any. “It is very pathetic state of affairs that on the one hand the federal government is avowing that it is trying hard to keep the economy moving on but on the other has not framed a policy to facilitate the industrial consumers towards payment of their utility bills,” Justice Shujaat Ali Khan observed allowing a petition filed by a company against disconnection and registration of a case on nonpayment of gas bill due to the lockdown.
Advocate Raheel Kamran Sheikh told the court that his client could not pay the gas bill for the months of March and April 2020 due to the pandemic lockdown. He said the petitioner/company requested the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) for the facility of installments of the bills. However, he said, the respondent authority not only turned down the request but also disconnected the gas connection and got a case criminal registered against the petitioner. He said the SNGPL also made efforts for encashment of bank guarantees of the petitioner.
The counsel argued that though the government introduced certain incentives for the business community in particular the construction sector. But, he said, the SNGPL authorities were not accommodating the petitioner/company on the payments of the bills despite the fact that it never defaulted since year 1995.
Advocate Sheikh pointed out that Islamabad High Court and Peshawar High Court had recently granted relief to industries against the similar actions of the SNGPL during the lockdown. A deputy attorney general stated that the federal government had only facilitated domestic consumers to pay monthly bills in installments and no decision regarding industrial consumers had been taken. The SNGPL’s counsel said the company being a collecting agency could not be compelled to restore gas connection without payment of the bill as it had to make payments to PSO and RLNG suppliers. He said there would be a flood gate of cases on behalf of industrial consumers if request of the petitioner was accepted.
Justice Khan observed that the federal government and the SNGPL had not denied that the industrialists failed to raise funds to pay utility bills due to the pandemic lockdown. He noted in the instant case the respondents also admitted that the petitioner/company never defaulted on payment of monthly bills except the period of the lockdown.
