The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC), seeking the apex court order for the forensic audit of the independent power producers (IPPs) as well as amendments in the agreements signed with them to link the payment to be made to them to the supply of electricity, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In its petition, the FPCCI also prayed to the court to order the recovery of excessive profits from these producers.
Similarly, the federation requested the court to declare the IPP-related policies different governments introduced in 1994, 2002 and 2015 null and void.
Furthermore, the court was requested to declare that the supply of cheap electricity to the masses was the responsibility of the government, and that the latter could not make profits from basic needs of people like electricity.
Meeting of Senate Committee on Power held
Also on Tuesday, Senate Committee on Power met with Senator Mohsin Aziz in the chair.
During the meeting, Federal Minister of Energy Awais Leghari, while addressing PTI’s Shibli Faraz, asked him to ask Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to cooperate with the government for preventing incidents of power theft and ensuring recoveries. “At the CM’s request, we declared some of the feeders in the province loadshedding free,” he said, adding, “We were assured that this would help improve recoveries. However, what have we have seen is opposite of that.”
Speaking on the occasion, Senator Mohsin said that the IPPs had now become a hot topic in the country.
The committee chairman said that the Power Infrastructure Board had sought more time for the provision of details related to the IPPs.
He said that the body wanted to know at what rates governments here in Pakistan had signed agreements with these producers. “We want to compare these rates with those in the region at that time.”
Reporters: Amanat Gishkori and Awais Kiani