PM forms body to prepare proposals
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to prepare proposals on the enactment of special laws for providing speedy justice to the common man, official sources told Business Recorder.
Led by Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, the committee will comprise ministers for Science and Technology, Defence Production, Housing and Works and Planning, Development and Reforms. It was constituted for putting up proposals for enactment of special laws for providing speedy justice to the common man. The proposals are to be placed before the next Cabinet meeting.
“The Prime Minister maintains that punishment for crimes is low. An overhaul of the judicial system is required. The common man is in need of speedy justice. There was a need for an out of the box thinking on this score,” the sources added. The sources said the Prime Minister formed a committee during a discussion on “offences and penalties relating to electricity amendment in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)” in a Cabinet meeting held on September, 22, 2014.
The Cabinet was informed that the Ministry of Water and Power is faced with the situation whereby the recoveries affected by the distribution companies (DISCOs) from the consumers are insufficient and inadequate to meet the cost of generated electricity. As a result, the government has to provide a subsidy, especially to those Discos where the incidence of leakage, pilferages and theft is very high. Primarily, this phenomenon emanates from a fragile legal and enforcement structure. In the FY 2012-13, total occurrences registered in relation to the theft of electricity were around 2 million, against which 23000 FIRs were lodged and only three convictions were reported.
Presently, offences, penalties and a procedure for punishment in relation to the theft of electricity are provided in the Electricity Act, 1910. However, this mechanism is weak and has not resulted in any significant recoveries or deterrence. There is thus an urgent need to rectify the present situation. Accordingly, a draft Ordinance which aims to amend the Pakistan Penal Code (1860) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (1898) has been drafted.
The draft Ordinance enumerates offences of dishonest abstraction, illegal interference or tempering with transmission and distribution power systems with a penalty of rigorous imprisonment which may extend up to three years and with a fine which may extend to Rs 10 million or both for transmission offences and three years and a fine which may be extended up to Rs 3 million or both for distribution offences. Similarly, offences against an improper use, interference or tempering with electric meters by domestic, industrial commercial and agricultural consumers have been included. The penalties for such offences range from a two-year imprisonment or a fine which may extend to Rs 1 million or both in case of domestic consumers and three years or a fine which may extend to Rs 6 million or both in case of industrial and commercial consumers. For agricultural consumers such offences carry a penalty of rigorous imprisonment which may extend up to two years and with a fine which may extend to Rs 2.5 million or both. Moreover, offences of damaging or destroying transmission lines, distribution lines or electric meters have been specified with a punishment of seven-year imprisonment with a fine which is not less than Rs 3 million. A financial loss caused to the Government or DISCOs and any outstanding penalties/fines shall be recoverable as arrears of land revenue.
The Court of Sessions, designated as the Electricity Utilities Court, shall exclusively take the cognizance of offences in relation to electricity theft in accordance with the procedure as laid out in the CrPC. These offences are suggested to be non-bailable, non-compoundable and with arrest without warrant and are specified through an amendment to Schedule II of the CrPc. In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Water & Power is in the process of issuing “United Incentive and Reward Rules” for adoption by the DISCOs incentivizing reporting and detection of theft by general public/employees of the DISCOs.
The draft Ordinance was thoroughly deliberated by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in its meetings held on 23rd and 31st July, 2013. Subsequently, in the light of recommendations made by the CCI Technical Committee comprising the Chief Secretaries Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Secretary Finance Division, Secretary Petroleum & Natural Resources Division, Secretary Law , Justice and Human Rights Division, Secretary Water & Power Division and Secretary Inter Provincial Coordination Division , the CCI approved the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 2013.
Accordingly, a summary seeking the approval of Cabinet for the draft Ordinance on “Offences & Penalties relating to electricity-Amendment in the PPC & CrPc” and its promulgation by the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division was submitted to the Cabinet Division on 18.1.2013. Keeping in view the significance of the issue and being a structural benchmark, anticipatory approval of the Prime Minister was solicited under rule 16(2) of the Rules of Business, 1973, which was accorded on December 27, 2013, with the direction to place the matter subsequently before the Cabinet for its formal approval which was granted.—MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
