Punjab AG’s perks dwarf salaries of chief judges

LHC has just 24 judges while 65 law officers and support staff were recruited for the advocate-general’s office.

LAHORE:

The salaries of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and four chief justices of high court are lower than the perks and privileges enjoyed by the advocate-general of Punjab, who is considered to be a favourite of the Sharif brothers.

According to documents obtained by The Express Tribune, even after the 50 per cent increase in pay, the Supreme Court chief justice’s monthly salary amounts to no more than Rs389,757, while the chief justices of high courts get Rs347,345 each month.

Documents showed that just the perks and privileges provided to the Advocate-General Khwaja Haris exceed Rs1 million monthly.

Whereas the working strength of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was decreased, two more law officers were appointed, besides sanctioning 15 more ministerial staff posts.

The burden on the public exchequer increased in millions with the establishment of a separate prosecution department and appointment of an additional and 15 assistant advocates-general and more than 135 supporting ministerial staff.

Interestingly, the advocate-general is being paid a monthly retainership fee of Rs100,000, a non-practicing allowance of Rs500,000, accommodation/house rent of Rs100,000, an unlimited residential phone bill and a limit of Rs10,000 for his personal cell phone, utility bills up to a maximum of Rs35,000, two 1,300cc official cars (one in Lahore and one in Islamabad), petrol allowance of up to 300 litres a month for each car and TA/DA on official tours.

In addition to all this, he is also entitled to avail business class air travel, a daily allowance of Rs2,000, mandatory accommodation in the Punjab House in Islamabad or a stay in a five-star hotel at government expense.

Previously, the Punjab advocate-general used to get a monthly retainership fee of Rs50,000, a non-practicing allowance of Rs200,000, a house rent of Rs25,000, an office telephone, one 1,300cc car with free petrol of up to 300 litres, a daily allowance of Rs550, and was entitled to accommodation in the Punjab House Islamabad and other rest houses across Punjab.

In 1980, there was one advocate general, three additional and six assistant advocates-general and the total staff strength was 70. At that time, there were 60 judges sanctioned in the high court. Now, there are just 24 judges working in the LHC even after the appointment of two more recently, but the total number of staff at the advocate-general’s office has reached 379.

In 1990, there were seven additional and 18 assistant advocates-general, while in 2000, there were 10 additional and 22 assistant advocates-general.

The previous Punjab government had appointed eight additional and nine assistant advocates-general and sanctioned seats of supporting ministerial staff for law officers.

Effectively, the move decreased the government spending by over 50 per cent despite the establishment of a separate prosecution department.

The move was strongly condemned by PML-N leaders, including the current chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, who vowed to abolish these seats after coming into power.

However, after assuming the office of the chief minister, Shahbaz sanctioned more seats, including one additional, 15 assistant advocates-general, besides appointing 135 support staff for 16 new law officers.

According to a letter issued by the Punjab government, several government departments, including the provincial assembly, have engaged private counsels for large sums of money despite the provincial government’s notice, asking them to conduct litigation through the advocate-general’s office.

Government departments, however, contend that they had no other option but to hire private counsels because of the non-cooperation from advocate-general’s office.

Officials at the Board of Revenue claimed that the advocate-general had sent back various cases, which may result in huge losses to the provincial government. They said he (the advocate-general) had also indicated that other cases might also be sent back.

According to a notification, Advocate-General Khawaja Haris also got millions of rupees in the Bank of Punjab vs Haris Steel Mill case in which he is engaged as a private counsel. This is considered to be a crime, a legal expert said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2011.