Judiciary, prosecution at tail-end of budgetary allocations of Sindh

Mere 0.18% of total budget allocated to judiciary, prosecution


Naeem Sahoutara June 07, 2017
Sindh High Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) government seems to have fully achieved the goal of dispensing speedy justice to the masses in its nine years of ruling in Sindh, as a mere 0.18% of the total budget of Rs1.04 trillion has been allocated for an institution as important as the judiciary and prosecution in the upcoming fiscal year of 2017-18.

Presenting the fifth and last budget of its second consecutive tenure, the PPP government , which has long been accusing the judiciary of delays in the provision of justice to the masses and acquittal of criminals, has allocated a sum of Rs1.88 billion for the judiciary, parliamentary affairs and prosecution department.

This includes Rs1.87 billion for the provincial judiciary and Rs14 million for the prosecution departments.

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As per the statistics, the upcoming year's allocation might suggest a remarkable increase of 68% as compared to the current fiscal year's allocation of Rs1.12 billion. However, it is a drop in the ocean when seen in reference to the total budget of the province.

Further, the budget has 64 new schemes in the judiciary that includes construction, renovation and repair of court buildings, the judicial complexes, residences of employees and bungalows of the judges in different districts. In comparison, there were 36 schemes in the 2016-17 financial year.

In the prosecution department, no new scheme has been announced. A sum of Rs10.5 million has been earmarked for ongoing schemes to construct offices and accommodation for officers and officials of the department.

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Meanwhile, to maintain law and order, the government has allocated 15% of the total budget to the home department. However, the document shows that only Rs14 million has been set aside for the most important department of prosecution. This suggests that either the government has been successful in restoring complete peace in the province, particularly in Karachi, or important institutions like the judiciary and prosecution are last on its list of priorities.

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