The Punjab government has clarified that a negative impression was created in media while publishing a news item regarding giving loans for houses to judges of the Lahore High Court including its chief justice. According to a press release issued by the Punjab government spokesperson on Tuesday, the rules and regulations of the all the judges including Chief Justice have been determined under the Article 205 of the Presidential Decree, 1997. Under the General Financial Rules (GFR), a government officer of the rank equal to secretary is eligible to take house building advance which will be equivalent to his 36 months basic salary. He is entitled to take the loan and bound to repay this amount in 120 installments.
The Punjab government has approved the loan for construction of houses for judges by keeping in view all necessary rules and regulations.
Judges will be bound to return all the loan amount. This amount will be deducted from the monthly salary of judges in installments.
The Finance Department has made a separate demand/grant under the title of “Loans to High Court Judges” for the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for Allocation of Funds and Accounting.
The Punjab Finance Department released some Rs358.5 million interest-free loan to 11 judges of the Lahore High Court for the construction of houses. The approval for the grant of loan was initially granted by the Standing
Committee of the Cabinet on Finance and Development in its meeting on March 18. Since all the 11 judges will retire in the next three to eight years the government will continue deducting loan installments from their salaries and later from pension.
The finance department released Rs29.875m each to Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Shahid Waheed, Justice Raja Shahid Mahmood, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali, Justice ShahidJamil Khan, Justice Masud Abid Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Sajid, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, Justice Anwaarul Haq Pannun and Justice Ms Alia Neelum. On Sept 8, the Lahore High Court was moved against the Punjab government’s decision to approve funds amounting to more than Rs360 million for providing interest-free loans to 11 judges. The petition was filed by citizen Mashkoor Hussain.
