Legal Character of an Electric Inspector is not that of Court
PLJ 2007 · Lahore High Court (Multan Bench)
Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), through MEPCO, challenged two earlier decisions in favour of a consumer, Husnain Industries, which ran a Ghee Mill in Multan. The dispute began when WAPDA billed the company over Rs. 6 lakh, claiming its electricity meter was running slow and had under-recorded usage. The company paid under protest, then challenged the bill before the Electric Inspector under the Electricity Act, 1910. The Electric Inspector examined the evidence and found that WAPDA's staff had essentially fabricated the slow-meter claim to cover their own losses, and ordered a refund along with a corrected bill. WAPDA's appeal to the Advisory Board of the Punjab Irrigation and Power Department was also dismissed. Years later, when the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) got involved to enforce the earlier decisions, WAPDA filed this writ petition in the Lahore High Court, arguing that the Electric Inspector had no authority to decide the matter, that only a civil court could handle such money disputes, and that the Ombudsman lacked jurisdiction since the matter was supposedly still pending elsewhere.
The court rejected WAPDA's objections. It held that the Electric Inspector, while empowered to resolve disputes under the Electricity Act, is not a "court," so the case was not actually pending before any judicial forum that could oust the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. Importantly, the court also found that W
پاکستان واٹر اینڈ پاور ڈویلپمنٹ اتھارٹی (واپڈا) نے، میپکو کے ذریعے، ایک صارف حسنین انڈسٹریز، جو ملتان میں گھی مل چلاتی ہے، کے حق میں دیے گئے دو سابقہ فیصلوں کو چیلنج کیا۔ تنازع اس وقت شروع ہوا جب واپڈا نے کمپنی کو چھ لاکھ روپے سے زائد کا بل بھیجا، یہ دعویٰ کرتے ہوئے کہ اس کا بجلی کا میٹر سست چل رہا تھا اور استعمال کم درج کر رہا تھا۔ کمپنی نے احتجاجاً بل ادا کیا اور پھر الیکٹرسٹی ایکٹ 1910 کے تحت الیکٹرک انسپکٹر کے سامنے اس بل کو چیلنج کر دیا۔ الیکٹرک انسپکٹر نے شواہد کا جائزہ لیا اور یہ نتیجہ اخذ کیا کہ واپڈا کا عملہ دراصل اپنے نقصانات کی تلافی کے لیے سست میٹر کا دعویٰ گھڑ رہا تھا، چنانچہ