The High Court through Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane has on Monday ruled in favour of the respondents in a case between the Board: Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when it dismissed an application for urgency.

The LEC Board and the LEC approached the court seeking its intervention after the Board was summoned before the PAC last week.

Following arguments on urgency, the court ruled that the matter is not urgent and consequently struck it off the roll.

Legal Representative for the applicants Advocate Monaheng Rasekoai argued that the matter is urgent. He stated that the PAC interactions are accusatory, judgmental and fundamentally unfair.

He emphasised that the PAC should be interdicted from overstepping its statutory mandate. He added that the PAC is guilty of outreach as it violates and exceeds its mandate.

Legal Representative for the respondents Adv. Thomas Thakalekoala insisted that the matter is not urgent. He stated that there is a one-month delay which is not accounted for by the applicants. He added that the application is not in compliance with the rules of the court.

The respondents in the matter include the Speaker of the National Assembly, Clerk of the National Assembly, Minister Parliamentary Affairs and the Attorney General.

The applicants are among others seeking the court to interdict the Speaker, Clerk and the PAC from investigating and/or dealing with matters not related to the mandate conferred by the Standing Order 97 (5) of the National Assembly Standing Orders Legal Notice No.114 of 2022 when probing issues which have to do with the company and/or any other public enterprise defined as such in section 2 of the Public Financial Management and Accountability Act.

The court was today informed that parties in the matter have been engaging in talks with the aim to find common grounds on the merits and reach an agreement if possible.