Unpaid judicial staff: Court rejects govt’s plea to suspend ‘freeze’ order

Sindh government has to pay Rs1.28 billion in dues to the judicial employees.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has spurned a last ditch effort of the provincial government to save its accounts from being frozen.

The Sindh government had submitted an application requesting the court to suspend its earlier order to seize government accounts in a case regarding the government’s failure to pay Rs1.28 billion in dues of Sindh’s judicial employees.

On Tuesday, Justices Munib Akhtar and Aftab Ahmed Gorar heard Additional Advocate General (AAG) Sindh Miran Muhammad Shah, who requested the court to give the authorities one more chance to pay the dues.

The bench in its order had stated that in case the provincial government fails to get a stay order from the Supreme Court on its appeal against the high court’s judgment, the properties of both federal and provincial government would be attached (given under court control).

Since the order was not complied with, the high court wrote a letter to the State Bank of Pakistan, which in turn deducted an amount of Rs500 million from the centre’s account to be paid to the federal judicial employees working in Sindh. The bank also moved to give the Sindh government’s accounts under court control.

Sensing the freeze, the government had rushed to the Supreme Court to get the previous order suspended. The AAG submitted that the Supreme Court will hear an appeal filed by the provincial government on July 18 and until then the order may be suspended.

Rejecting the Sindh government’s plea, the court insisted: “let the law take its own course.”

The bench later adjourned the hearing till July 19 in a contempt of court case initiated on the request of judicial employees of both federal and provincial governments.