LAHORE: Of the eleven Lahore High Court judges, at least two have withdrawn their requests for the interest-free loan of Rs32.86 million each for purchase/construction of house.

The caretaker Punjab government’s move to disburse interest-free loan to the tune of Rs361.5m to 11 judges in September this year was widely criticised since it came at a time when the hapless general public was hit hard by record high inflation driven by skyrocketing energy prices. Each judge was allowed to get an interest-free loan equal to 36 basic pays i.e. Rs912,862.

The judges were supposed to return the loan through deduction from their respective salaries/pension in 144 months (12 years).

However, in the latest development, Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed and Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid through the LHC additional registrar (B&F) told the Punjab government that they were not interested in availing the facility.

The two judges’ request for the withdrawal of their names from the list of 11 judges was conveyed to the Punjab government at a meeting of the caretaker standing committee of the cabinet on finance and development.

Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid has already retired from service since July 31, 2023, but his loan request was initiated before his retirement. Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed is due to retire on Sept 10, 2032.

According to the minutes of the caretaker standing committee of cabinet on finance development meeting held on Oct 16, the chief minister had approved the minutes of the committee’s Sept 6 meeting and allowed the release of Rs361.49m for the interest-free loan to 11 judges for purchase/construction of their houses.

The 11 judges were: Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad, Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid, Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed, Justice Shakil Ahmad, Justice Muhammad Tariq Nadeem, Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafique, Justice Abid Hussain Chattha, Justice Anwar Hussain, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, Justice Muhammad Raza Qureshi and Justice Raheel Kamran.

Later, in the cabinet standing committee’s meeting on Oct 16, the LHC additional registrar (B&F) asked the Punjab government not to include the names of Justice Rasaal Hasan Syed and Justice Safdar Saleem Shahid in the loan sanction order to be issued in the matter regarding grant of interest-free loan.

Eventually, the cabinet standing committee approved the withdrawal of the names of the two judges. It approved the grant of Rs32.86m each to the nine judges that would cumulatively require the Punjab government to disburse Rs295.77m at once. It may be mentioned that the Punjab government was paying a whopping subsidy of Rs3.1 billion to the higher and subordinate judiciary under the head of electricity utility allowance.

The electricity utility allowance formula for judges explains that if a judge gets a Rs100,000 electricity bill, he will pay half of the amount and the remaining amount will be adjusted under the allowance.

In other heads, the Punjab government is paying Rs4.4bn subsidy that includes Rs1.1bn for the Punjab civil secretariat employees; Rs80m for the Punjab chief minister house/office and Rs33.3m for the Governor House.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2023