“The future is green energy, sustainability, renewable energy.”—Arnold Schwarzenegger

Who can refute the fact that electric power can now be included in the category of fundamental rights of modern human beings. With a heavy reliance on innumerable gadgets on electricity, there is a constant need for an uninterrupted supply of power. From preservation of food to lifesaving equipment, from controlling temperatures in buildings to protecting assets and maintaining security, electricity plays the most pivotal role. It has become the oxygen for inanimate objects where any interruption can cause permanent damage.

Under the constitutional contract between a state and its subjects, wherein citizens are supposed to commit their loyalty, the state in return is duty bound to facilitate them with all the necessary essentials of life, a few of which are free while others are on the condition of compensation as elaborated in Ms. Shela Zia and Others v WAPDA [PLD 1994 Supreme Court 693] by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Therefore, under Article 25A of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, where education is to be provided free and compulsorily to all children between the ages of five and sixteen years, utilities like gas and electricity are supplied only where the people are able to pay for them.

Then there is also a case against privatization of distribution companies as the state has failed in its management of power leaving the public helpless and in great misery, particularly during long hours of breakdowns or loadshedding.

This means that there are many in the country who are still deprived of these basic necessities. This is principally on........

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