Crossing the line: PAC picks fault with judges, armymen’s pay

Army personnel, judges being paid above and beyond pay scales.

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) declared on Tuesday that the existing salary structures for federal government employees was “illegal, discriminatory” and “in violation of the Constitution” while ordering the government to constitute a commission to remove such distortions within three months.

PAC Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan chaired a meeting during which the finance ministry exposed how distortive and discriminatory pay structures had become over the years.

“The ones who are fighting at Siachen are indeed entitled to a special allowance but all other departments and institutions do not qualify for special pay packages,” said Chan, adding that the pay structures were in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution.

The head of the parliamentary watchdog gave a three-month deadline for the executive to constitute a commission to address such anomalies. The committee also observed that increasing salaries and allowances was exclusively parliament’s domain.

“The pay structure is haphazard and exploitative,” said Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq, adding that determining pay structures was the job of the Establishment Division and Human Resources Division, not the finance ministry.

Army personnel were raking in 180% over and above their pay scale, bringing their total take-home salary up to 280%. The chief justice’s take-home salary stood at Rs773,328 in addition to numerous other benefits. The employees of the Supreme Court and high courts were drawing three to four salaries compared to a lowly one being drawn by a civil servant, according to the briefing.

“There was a time when salaries of a judge, a grade 22 civil servant, and a lieutenant general were the same but now a judge is taking roughly Rs750,000, a lieutenant general is availing Rs375,000 while a civil servant is getting Rs250,000,” said the adviser to the finance ministry, Rana Assad Amin.

The salaries of employees working in the Presidency and Prime Minister’s Secretariat were found to be 50% higher than their pay scale with free electricity, gas and water facilities included for grade 19 officers.

An FBR employee was receiving 150% higher than his given pay scale, while the employees of the National Assembly and Senate were receiving 105% over and above their pay scale. NAB officials were receiving 25% to 50% additional pay with officers also entitled to 3% to 30% of the recovered amount.

SRO issue

In its last meeting, the PAC also directed the federal government to return the powers of levying taxes to parliament and amend the relevant laws to withdraw such powers from the executive branch.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2013.