Hefty raises on the cards for govt’s legal team

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to inject impetus into its cause, the government, currently embroiled in a number of cases in the courts, is moving to drastically raise the salaries of its frontline – the attorney general, deputy attorney general and standing counsels – by more than 100 per cent

Sources privy to the deliberations on this matter told The Express Tribune that a summary is being drafted by the law ministry to propose hefty salary packages for the attorney general, deputy attorney general and standing counsels.

“Yes… a summary is being drafted in the law ministry which will soon be forwarded to the prime minister for his nod,” a senior official, who requested not to be named, told The Express Tribune.

Sources said that the ministry was proposing a salary package amounting to Rs500,000 per month for the attorney general, who is presently getting around Rs200,000.

Similarly, the deputy attorney general, who currently receives around Rs150,000, would be looking at a salary package of Rs250,000.

Moreover, the senior official said that the salary package for standing counsel and federal counsel are also being doubled.

He said the standing counsel would be offered Rs175,000 whereas the federal counsel will receive Rs100,000 per month under the new proposal.

Presently, the official said, the standing counsel gets a package of around Rs75,000 to Rs100,000 whereas the federal counsel gets Rs50,000.

The official said that the move was aimed at ‘boosting the morale’ of the legal team, which, he said, has been under tremendous pressure to defend the government in courts over a host of issues, including the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2010.