Judicial allowance: SC suspends LHC action against Punjab

LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) Saturday suspended proceedings before the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the Punjab government for not implementing a decision of the LHC administration committee for making special judicial allowance part of the pension of the judicial officers.

LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had warned on Friday of summoning Chief Minister Usman Buzdar if an ordinance for implementation of the decision was not issued by Saturday. The chief justice had also warned of issuing a show-cause to the chief minister if the order was not complied with by Saturday evening.

“I will indict the chief minister at 9pm on Saturday and announce a decision on Sunday,” he reminded a law officer.

A special bench of the SC comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan heard an appeal of the government at the Lahore registry and suspended the proceedings, initiated by the LHC. Advocate General of Punjab (AGP) Ahmad Awais argued before the court that any decision by the administration committee of the LHC was not a judicial order. He said non-implementation of the committee’s order could not entail contempt of court proceedings. He pointed out that the finance department had rejected a summary sent by the chief minister’s office to make the special judicial allowance part of the pension of the judicial officers.

The AGP said the LHC chief justice hinted at initiating contempt proceedings against the chief minister. He asked the SC to set aside the proceedings before the LHC for being unlawful. However, the bench suspended the impugned proceedings and summoned record of the case by July 6.