2nd plot for bureaucrats, judges declared illegal

IHC orders referring matter to federal cabinet

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday declared the policy of allotting a second plot to grade-22 officers and judges of the high court as illegal.

It ordered referring the matter to the federal cabinet.

Announcing the reserved verdict on the matter, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ruled that if the government wanted to give extra plots to judges and civil servants, it should legislate first.

At present, the court noted that there was no law for allotting a second plot to high court judges and civil servants.

The court said past allotments under this policy had not been cancelled.  Therefore, the cabinet should look into it.

The petition had stated that on June 27, 2006 the then prime minister approved the summary of establishment division.

The reasons to approve the summary were not legal instead it was based on “desires”, it added.

The petitioner further said the policy for extra plot allotments was based on “dishonesty”. He sought declaring the decision of allotting more than one plot to judges and civil servants as null and void.

The policy of giving a second plot was introduced during the tenure of former prime minister Shaukat Aziz.

Last week, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the allotment of plots to the capital’s judiciary in sectors F-14 and F-15 of Islamabad.

The court issued a notice to the attorney general and sought explanation from the housing ministry on the policy of distribution of plots among a few segments of the society. A larger bench was also constituted to hear the matter on September 13.

Earlier this month, the IHC registrar had informed the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) that no sitting judge had applied for the allotment of a 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.