Quid pro quo: ‘Officials to lose salary unless LHC staff paid allowance’

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday threatened to stop the salaries of Punjab government officials if judicial allowances were not provided to the court employees.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was reviewing a petition filed against the non-payment of judicial allowance. He summoned the Punjab finance secretary on the next hearing.

The petitioners’ counsel said the federal government had announced 50 percent judicial and ad-hoc relief allowance for every high court employee across the country.

He said the allowance had been provided to employees of all high courts and the Supreme Court with the exception of LHC employees. The counsel said the Punjab government was deliberately avoiding paying the employees. Justice Shah expressed displeasure over the pendency of the petition since 2011. The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2014.