LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued a stay order against a decision requiring the recovery of Rs60 billion in compensation from the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), issuing notices to the parties and seeking replies on September 3.
Justice Muhammad Jawad Hassan of the Lahore High Court issued the interim written order on LESCO’s petition. Barrister Umar Riaz appeared in court on behalf of LESCO.
According to the court order, the citizen’s position is that LESCO established a grid station on his 45 kanals of land in 1976, against which Rs60 billion in compensation is due from LESCO.
The five-decade gap between the alleged acquisition and the present claim lies at the heart of the dispute’s complexity. Land acquired for public utility infrastructure in the 1970s was frequently taken under arrangements that were poorly documented by contemporary standards, and revenue records from that period often fail to reflect the transfer cleanly. Compensation claims arising from such acquisitions have surfaced repeatedly before Pakistani courts, and the valuation question — whether compensation is assessed at the historical value or at present-day market rates — routinely produces figures of an order of magnitude that appear startling relative to the original transaction.
The Federal Ombudsman had recommended in 2013 that compensation be paid according to the market value of the land.
The court noted that a 2015 decision had directed that, prior to the payment of compensation, the revenue record be examined and a site inspection be carried out to determine ownership and area.
That direction — verify title and measure the land before paying — was, on the court’s reading, a precondition rather than a formality.
The Civil Court Kasur issued an interim order in favour of LESCO on May 8, 2023, while execution proceedings on the compensation were closed on September 16, 2024.
LESCO has declared the ownership of the land to be itself in dispute, identifying the provincial government as the actual owner.
The court observed that the dispute over ownership of the land is already pending before the Civil Court Kasur, and therefore the matter of paying compensation without a determination of ownership has become a legal question.
This is the pivot of the interim ruling. If the provincial government rather than the claimant holds title, the entitlement to compensation collapses at its foundation. Ordering payment of a sum of this magnitude while the ownership suit remains undecided would risk an irreversible disbursement from a public-sector utility to a party whose standing has not been settled.
The Lahore High Court ordered that if the compensation order has not already been enforced, it should not be implemented until the next hearing.
The court also directed the person declared entitled to the compensation to appear in person.
The requirement of personal appearance suggests the bench intends to examine the claimant’s position directly rather than solely through counsel, a step courts commonly take where the factual foundation of a claim requires clarification.
LESCO is the distribution company serving Lahore and surrounding districts, supplying millions of consumers. A liability of Rs60 billion would represent a material shock to the finances of a distribution company already operating under pressure from recovery shortfalls and line losses — costs that, in Pakistan’s power sector structure, ultimately feed through to tariffs and the circular debt.
The next hearing is scheduled for September 3.
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