The Supreme Court on Tuesday criticised the federal government over its failure to properly regulate the affairs of the K-Electric (KE), saying the power utility was neither able to supply adequate electricity to Karachi's residents nor did it give any returns to the government.

Heading a two-judge bench during the hearing of a suo motu case regarding excessive load-shedding in Sindh, Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed also vacated the stay orders issued by the Sindh High Court on actions taken by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) against KE.

"What is the federal government doing? Is this how it will run Pakistan?" the top judge questioned, noting that KE had not provided a "single penny" to the government since 2015.

Editorial: Centre, Sindh need to put politics aside to bring Karachi into the 21st century

He said the federal government appeared to be "completely helpless" in the face of the power utility and reminded it that "the powers that be in Karachi even snatch the morsel out of the mouth."

The bench also found fault with a reply submitted by the Power Division regarding KE, saying in its order that "there seems to be no coordination between the Power Division and Nepra and further with NTDC".

It directed the Ministry of Energy to ensure that a coordinated decision was taken by all the relevant departments, agencies and companies with respect to KE and the same should be executed by one department.

"K-Electric should not be allowed to go about various departments of the government or companies or agencies for achieving of its objectives," the order said.

According to the order, Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan informed the court that the issue of electricity in Karachi was that KE had the "exclusive right" of generation and distribution of power in Karachi and therefore, to overcome the issue of exclusivity, the provision of Section 26 of the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997, had to be given effect and the determination had to be made by Nepra.

In a step towards ending KE's monopoly over Karachi's power infrastructure, the court allowed Nepra to proceed to implement Section 26 of the act, saying: "As the law has provided the provision, we do not see any impediment as to why the authority is not empowered to give effect to the said provision of law."

The top court also ruled that while making its determination regarding KE's exclusivity in supplying power to Karachi within one month, Nepra "shall not be hampered by any court" through any injunctive order or issuing of any writ.

The SC also ordered the government to appoint within 10 days members of the Nepra appellate tribunal that will hear complaints against the KE and to provide all necessary infrastructure to make it immediately functional.

'KE cannot wait for govt to clear its facilities of rainwater'

AGP Khan informed the bench that since the last hearing of the case on August 13, the situation in Karachi had "become worse" and was worsening even further day by day and that today "almost half of Karachi does not have supply of electricity".

The counsel for KE contended that the state of affairs was so because the power utility's infrastructure had submerged in the recent torrential rains in the city.

But the SC ruled that being a private company, KE "should apply its own resources for ensuring clearing of its sub-stations and other distribution network from the rainwater" and that it "cannot wait for any assistance from the government" in this regard.

KE's basic task of supplying power to Karachi could not be interrupted "for [the] mere reason that its installations have been affected by rain".

"K-Electric cannot blame any institution of the government in this regard," the SC order said. "[KE] has to do its own work and maintain its installations and also secure them from any [weather] effect."

'Karachi has nothing to give'

During the hearing, Chief Justice Ahmed remarked that billions of rupees were issued in Karachi for development but "nothing was spent".

"The impression that Karachi contributes 70 per cent to the national economy is wrong," he said, before adding: "Karachi no longer has anything to give."

In a reference to Wasim Akhtar who recently ended his tenure as the Karachi mayor, the chief justice said: "The [man] who remained mayor for four years did not even build a single conduit (naali)."

Justice Ahmed said the accounts abroad of certain people from Karachi had become "functional" and the process of "minting money" had begun in the metropolis.

He said billions of rupees had already been sent abroad from the city.