President Arif Alvi has declared the theft of electricity a cognizable offense through the promulgation of an ordinance. In layman’s terms, this means that electricity theft cases now fall under court jurisdiction.
According to the President House, electricity theft is now a cognizable offense after President Alvi promulgated the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2023 to amend Section 462(O) of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860.
The President House added that the new ordinance will ease the process of registering cases of electricity theft for the distribution companies facing difficulties earlier.
In addition to the complaints of grade-17 officers or above, theft of electricity will be considered a cognizable offense on the complaint of nominees of electricity distribution companies’ CEOs following the new ordinance.
President Arif Alvi promulgated the Ordinance under Article 89-1 of the Constitution. It is a major step towards curbing power theft in the energy sector worth around Rs 590 billion.
It should be noted that the recent crackdown by the caretaker government against power thieves led to the arrest of thousands of individuals across the country.
Additionally, various officers of power companies involved in corruption were removed from their posts. The caretaker Minister for Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali Ghulam Ali had clearly stated that the government would not reduce electricity prices until power theft is eliminated.
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