SHC tells govt to ensure funds to release special judicial allowance

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday directed the provincial government to ensure the disbursement of the funds to release special judicial allowance to all the cadres of the SHC, its benches and its circuit courts.

The direction came on a contempt-of-court application filed by high court employees seeking the implementation of the SHC’s June 21, 2024, order that directed the government to unfreeze and release the special judicial allowance within two months.

The additional advocate general, and the counsel for the chief secretary and the finance secretary informed the court that the cabinet has approved the budget proposal, which includes the funds for paying judicial employees in accordance with the court’s June 21, 2024, order.

They said that it is anticipated that this amount would be approved in the upcoming budget by the provincial assembly. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha said if this is the case, the government should ensure the disbursement of the funds pursuant to the court orders.

The court in the meantime suspended the show-cause notices issued to the alleged contemners until August 15, when the provincial law officer will submit a compliance report, failing which the alleged contemners must show up in court.

The SHC had earlier set aside the government’s office memorandum and the cabinet’s decision as regards the freezing of the judicial allowance of the high court and its subordinate judiciary employees.

The court had directed the government to unfreeze and release the amount of the special judicial allowance to all the cadres of the SHC, its benches and its circuit courts within two months.

Regularisation plea

The SHC also reserved its judgment on a petition of over 500 contract employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) seeking regularisation. The petitioners said they have been working on contract since 2009 in different departments of the PSM, but they are not being regularised despite the Supreme Court’s orders.

Their counsel said that some other contract employees had been regularised on the court’s orders. The SHC asked how contract employees can be regularised when the PSM has been closed since 2015, and who will pay these employees if they are regularised. The counsel for the PSM requested the court to dismiss the petitions as not maintainable. After hearing the arguments of the counsel, the court reserved its judgment.