No IHC judge sought govt plots, PIC told

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) registrar has informed the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) that no sitting judge had applied for the allotment of government plot.

The registrar told the PIC that information regarding perks and privileges of retired high court judges as well as details regarding allotment of government plots was not available with the high court, adding that the PIC might contact the retired judges to get such information.

The information was conveyed after the PIC meeting held on June 2 that information about pension, perks, privileges and post-retirement benefits, including plots allotted in government schemes, falls in the category of public information and should be made public under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The PIC gave the order on a petition moved by over 30 activists of the Women Action Forum. The order said the exercise of the constitutional right of citizens under the RTI law did not amount to curtailing independence of the judiciary nor it amounted to executive oversight of the judiciary.

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In view of that order, the IHC registrar wrote a letter to the PIC, last week, stating that no serving IHC judge had applied for the allotment of government plot. Similarly, he added, details of judges perks and privileges was mentioned in the presidential order and were available at IHC website.

Currently, six judges are working in IHC. Earlier, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had given a ruling against the allotment of government plots to judges, generals, journalists and lawyers. However, the judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court last year.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the Supreme Court Registrar Office was reluctant to provide such details due to jurisdictional reasons. It is also learnt that Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan may raise this issue with the PIC.

Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa and his spouse Sarina Isa have already made the details of their assets public on the SC website. He also refused to apply for the allotment of plot in the federal capital. It is also learnt that Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi also did not get any plot from the government.

A senior government functionary has questioned why the Women Action Forum is seeking information about perks and privileges of the judges. He said that a few rights organisations were consistently targeting the judiciary.

In view of their activities, US State Department has released a report against Pakistan judiciary, he said. The official wondered why these rights organisations did not seek information regarding other institutions including lawyers etc.