LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Friday expressed serious concerns at the Punjab caretaker government’s move to sanction a hefty amount as interest-free loan to 11 judges of the Lahore High Court.

In a joint statement, PBC Vice Chairman Haroonur Rashid and Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha described the decision as immoral and illegal, stating it was a great loss to the public exchequer, especially during the current worst economic condition of the country.

The statement said this practice of sanctioning loan out of the public resources for the judges was neither justified nor acceptable to the people who were already affected by hyperinflation.

“We expect from judges of the Lahore High Court that they would refuse to accept this unethical and unjustified loan,” the PBC said.

Citizen moves court against sanction

It said the All Pakistan Lawyers Representative Conference of Sept 5 had also demanded the government to stop all privileges already available to the privileged class, including judges.

They demanded the Punjab government to immediately withdraw the purported notification.

Meanwhile, a ‘public interest’ petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court, challenging the approval of interest-free loans for its 11 judges by the caretaker government of Punjab.

A citizen, Mashkoor Hussain, filed the petition through Advocate Nadeem Sarwar, saying the caretaker cabinet had approved a facility of interest-free loan to each judge equal to 36 basic pays for the purchase/construction of houses. He said each of the 111 judges has a basic pay to the tune of Rs912,862.

The petitioner pointed out that the loan amount was being released in one installment and would be recovered from the judges through deduction of one-fourth basic pay on a monthly basis. Eventually, the interest-free loan would be recovered in 12 years while some of the judges would reach superannuation in a year or before the recovery of the loan amount.

The petitioner stated that there was no precedent that a loan, that too interest-free, was recovered from the pension of a government servant. He said the judges on their own made a desire to get interest-free loans and that the act made them look like politicians and the elite who would usually misuse power for personal gains.

He argued that the act of the judges had serious repercussions as the public would lose its confidence in the judiciary and consider the judges biased because the cases before judiciary were always against the executive branch.

The petitioner said the impugned act of respondents and the judges also amounts to violation of Article 2-A and Article 25 of the Constitution as it was tainted with discrimination and inequality.

He said the public and even the poor were being charged 22pc interest on loans from the banks while a judge withdrawing a whopping salary was getting interest-free loans.

The petitioner asked the court to set aside the approval of the interest-free loans to judges of the high court for being illegal as it violates the equality clause and code of conduct of the judges.

He said if the loan was already granted to the judges, the government should be directed to charge interest as it was being charged from the public at large.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023