A peep at our judges' salaries, perks

ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: The Upper House of Parliament was informed Friday about the salary packages and other perks/privileges being given to Chief Justice of Pakistan, judges, chief justices of high courts and their judges. Law Minister Farooq H. Naek shared all the details with the house in a written reply to a question raised by Haji Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP). Adeel had asked about the salary, allowances and other fringe benefits admissible to chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and high courts. The answer was taken as read before the questionnaire was not present in the House during the question hour. Otherwise, it is said, as per his nature, Haj Adeel could have put some tough supplementary questions to the law minister. The minister said the salary of the apex court chief justice with effect from July 01, 2011 is Rs448,221 while he gets superior judicial allowance (SJA) of Rs1,96,219, Rs68000 house rent provided no official residence is available to him besides medical allowance at the rate of 15 per cent of the salary. Likewise, the pay of Supreme Court judges is Rs4,23,414 and same SJA and house rent , which is being given to the chief justice. Medical allowance is also at the rate of 15 of their salary. Privileges being given to the Supreme Court and judges are same i.e.: chauffer driven car with 600 liters petrol, free medical treatment along with family, rent-free residence maintained by the government with provision of electricity, gas and water. While on tour in connection with official business, the judges are entitled to TA/DA: daily allowance is Rs3000 per diem special rate; concessions on long tours are: when a judge is proceeding on a tour within Pakistan, exceeding five days in duration, a judge may (a) take his wife with him in his railway saloon, or other reserved accommodation, by rail or sea, without payment or fare and (b) if accompanied by his wife on a journey by air charge one extra fare of the class by which she actually travels, but no charge for extra luggage transported by air beyond the free allowance may be made. Additionally, a return air-ticket will be purchased for his wife whenever possible. Mileage allowance to the judge is Rs6 per kilometer. Moreover, he can get transfer grant equal to one month pay, if a judge has a family and equal to half month’s pay if a judge has no family. The minister noted the judges under transportation charges could carry 4500 kilograms of luggage, if a judge has a family, while 2240 kilograms if a judge has no family – all the privileges are free of income tax. JOURNEY ON DUTY: If a judge during duty on circuit bench does not use the facility of a car from the provincial government or a hired vehicle by the Supreme Court, he will have the option to reimburse the additional petrol to the extent of 5 liters per day for the period during which his roaster is fixed at a bench outside Islamabad plus two days for arrival and departure if the same do not fall within the roaster (excluding the day of departure from and arrival at Islamabad) provided the judge concerned is unable to meet his total monthly requirement (all the petrol within the limit of 400 liters). A chief justice of the high court is paid Rs4,15,424 salary while a high court judge’s pay is Rs3,99,447 – both get the same amount of money as SJA, house rent and medical allowance i.e Rs1,56,975, Rs65,000 and medical allowance at the rate of 15 per cent of the basic salary, respectively. Other privileges included TA/DA, concessions on long tours, transfer grant, transportation charges, transfer allowance and transfer privileges.]]>