LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued notices to Chairman Pepco, Chairman Wapda and Minister for Water and Power for April 29 on a petition against 6 per cent additional surcharge as fuel adjustment tax in the electricity bills. The court issued notices on a civil miscellaneous (CM) application of Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi, Media Advisor of Save Judiciary Committee (SJC), which he had filed into his main petition pending before the LHC against loadshedding and electricity crisis in the country. The application stated that government had announced to take fuel adjustment surcharge from month of April but it was unlawfully charging the same tax from February showing it as arrears in the bills of April. Justice Umar Ata Bandial sought reply from the federal government asking why the fuel adjustment surcharge had been added in the bills of April all of a sudden. During proceedings petitioners counsel Barrister Farooq Hassan requested the court to issue stay order against fuel adjustment charges calling it unlawful. The petitioner counsel submitted that six per cent additional surcharge was unconstitutional and it would prove an additional burden on the masses already hit hard by poverty. The court sought reply from the government on the matter but did not stay the tax for the time being observing that it could not be done at this stage without hearing point of view of the Pepco and government being respondents in the matter. The judge held that in case the case is decided against the tax the amount thus recovered from the consumers would get adjusted in the payable bills of the next month. Justice Bandiyal also observed that the government had started taking steps to reduce load in view of the peoples protests against loadshedding and the petitions against loadshedding. The judge also praised Barrister Farooq Hassan for moving the court on the question of electricity crisis and loadshedding in the public interest. The court noted that government held a high-level conference on power crisis proving that it had got awakened to the issue. The court would resume proceedings on this application and other petitions against loadshedding on April 29.