ISLAMABAD: The senior special magistrate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Friday issued warrants for the arrest of the chairman of Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) and directed the police to present him before the court on Nov 10.

Senior Special Magistrate Sardar Asif issued the arrest warrants of the Iesco chairman for not appearing before his court in a case related to Rs15.61 billion dues to be paid to the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) for using open spaces in various areas of Islamabad.

Sources said the warrants had been received in the Aabpara police station. According to the warrants, Iesco was a defaulter of Rs15.61 billion of the MCI and despite being issued notices had not paid the amount.

The police were directed to arrest the Iesco chairman along with a deputy manager and produce them before the court on Nov 10. Currently, Engineer Salahuddin Rifai is the Iesco chairman.

Civic agency itself a defaulter of our Rs2bn, says Iesco official

The recovery case was referred to the magistrate court by the MCI through a letter which stated that Iesco was a defaulter of the Rs15.61 billion rent against utilisation of open spaces from July 1, 2000, to June 2020.

“It is requested that the movable property which belongs to Iesco may also be removed, forfeited, seized immediately as arrears of land revenue and proceedings may be carried out after adopting all legal procedure,” read the letter which was issued by an assistant director with the consent of the Directorate Municipal Administration (DMA) of the MCI.

The CDA and Iesco have been at loggerheads over pending dues with both the organisations terming each other a defaulter.

In May this year, Iesco suspended power supply for two days to the civic agency offices for non-payment of bills against streetlights and the Parliament Lodges.

Iesco charges the CDA on the basis of lights, not through a metering system. The CDA often complains of overcharging saying without any metering system Iesco issues exaggerated bills on assumption.

An officer of the CDA said the civic agency had nothing to do with the warrants issued to the Iesco chairman as the case had been filed by the MCI.

The CDA has been paying salaries of MCI employees and practically all major directorates of the corporation are being taken care of it as MCI does not have funds and rules.

When contacted, Iesco spokesperson Raja Asim said CDA was itself a defaulter of Rs2 billion of Iesco.

“Today CDA’s magistrate issued arrest warrants of the Iesco chairman. It is something alarming for us and our legal team will properly pursue this case,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2021