LAHORE - The Lahore High Court has stopped the Punjab Irrigation and Power Department from taking any coercive measures against the administration of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre for the recovery of electricity duty for using power generators to meet its electricity needs. Justice Azmat Saeed issued this order in a petition of the SKMCH&RC filed through its chief executive officer Dr Faisal Sultan. The petitioner submitted that they had installed three electricity generators to run the Hospital smoothly, adding that it was a charitable organisation and was established under Societies Regulation Act of Pakistan. He stated that the government failed to provide electricity to the nation according to its needs due to which the Hospital was forced to install three generators of 2000 KVA, 1400 KVA and 1350 KVA to fulfil its needs and ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity. He said that on January 25, 2010, an electricity inspector of the Punjab Irrigation and Power Department issued them a notice for using generators of capacity over than 500 KVA and asked the Hospital for payment of the electricity duty. He said that through this notice the Hospital was also asked to submit a report about its energy generation, distribution and self-consumption so that an assessment for the limit of electricity duty could be made. In its reply the Hospital informed that it did not fall under the charging provision, he averred and added, but instead of exempting the Hospital from the duty, they rejected its reply and started using coercive measures for recovery of the duty. The petitioner told the court that the SKMCH&RC did not fall under the 5th Schedule of the Finance Act 1964 and were not a profitable organisation. He pleaded that the Hospital provided free treatment to the needy and poor patients, maintaining that the respondents were illegally adopting coercive measures against the Hospital for the recovery of illegally-imposed electricity duty. He prayed the court to declare the notice for the recovery of electricity duty as illegal and stop them from using coercive measures against them. The judge, after hearing the arguments, fixed the petition with an already pending petition of the same nature.