The Lahore High Court chief justice summoned the Ministry of Water and Power’s joint secretary for April 23 on a petition against unscheduled load shedding.
The CJ directed the joint secretary to inform the court about residential areas exempted from load shedding.
On Friday, the ministry’s counsel sought more time saying Joint Secretary Zargham Shah was busy at a cabinet meeting.
Judicial Activism Panel Chairman Azhar Siddique has moved the application against unscheduled load shedding. He submitted that the duration of load shedding has exceeded 16 hours a day in cities, and it is even longer in rural areas. He said load shedding in Karachi was a fraction of that in Punjab.
He said orders passed on his petition on November 30, 2012, January 6, and February 7, had not been complied with by the government.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2013.