KARACHI: Sui Souther Gas Company (SSGC) was ordered to reinstall the gas meter forthwith which was removed from the residential flat of Senior Custom Lawyer Khalid Mehmood Rajper.
The bench comprising Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan and Justice Abdul Mubeen Lakho earlier heard the lawyer who maintained that SSGC staff without any removed the gas meter just a day before advent of Ramadan.
He maintained that gas consumption bill was paid by him regularly without fail till September 2023 after which no bill was received. The gas company suddenly issued a bill of more than Rupees 900,000 which is unbelievable for a residential unit/consumer.
The action by SSGC was arbitrary and without due process of law and therefore relief may be provided, the lawyer contended.
The bench after initial hearing ordered the gas company to forthwith reinstall the gas meter and connection while issuing notice for April 23. “If there is any disputed amount, let the detailed calculation of the same be confronted to the petitioner and the petitioner be given an opportunity in accordance with law to contest the same”, the bench ordered while putting the gas company on notice.
This not a single or first case in which gas utility has slapped a huge bill onto a residential consumer but dozens of such incidents are being reported every day and it became a new tool to fleece the innocent consumers.