Perks, privileges, salaries enjoyed by judges of Pakistan

The extravagant wedding of Najam Saqib, son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, has left people wondering as to how a chief justice or his son can spend so lavishly that according to one report only one dress of a marriage event was bought for about 1.5 crore. While, rumours are that several crores were spent in total on the marriage.

Here we would like to share salaries and perks enjoyed by senior judges of Pakistan. The report was made public in the Senate in Sept 2017.

According to which, as per reported by Business Recorder, the salary of chief justice of Supreme Court with effect from July 01, 2017 is Rs 846,549, besides Rs 370,597 superior judicial allowance, Rs 68,000 house rent if official residence not provided, medical allowance is 15 percent of salary stand frozen level of its admissibility, ie, Rs 56,464 per month.

The salary of an SC judge is Rs 799, 699 and superior judicial allowance is Rs 370,597, while house rent and medical allowance is identical to what the chief justice is being given. Moreover, the SC chief justice and judges have chauffer driven two cars maintained at government expense at their disposal, one at principal seat and the other at provincial headquarters with 600 litres fuel, free medical treatment for the family, rent-free residence maintained by the government with provision of electricity, gas and water facilities.

Also Read: Wedding dress worth 1.5 crore of Saqib Nisar’s daughter-in-law made by Indian designer

Besides, they also draw TA/DA during official tour, ie, Rs 5,000 per diem special rate. Moreover, they will be entitled to concessions on tours, Rs 12 per kilometer, transfer grant equal to one month’s pay if a judge has a family and equal to half month’s pay if a judge has no family and also transportation charges, journey on duty reimbursement and exemption from income tax.

The salary of chief justice of a high court is Rs 784,608, besides Rs 296,477 superior judicial allowance with effect from July 1 this year, Rs 65,000 house rent if no official residence is provided, Rs 54,186 per month medical allowance, chauffer driven car with 500 litres fuel, free medical treatment for family, rent-free residence maintained by the government with provision of utilities, Rs 4,400 per diem special rate while Rs 4,000 ordinary rate, Rs 12 per kilometer mileage allowance along with concessions on long tour and other privileges, including exemption from income tax.

A high court judge gets Rs 754,432 salary and almost all other perks and privileges available to the chief justice of a high court.

So, a senior judge roughly makes 1,600,000 rupees a month including all the privileges and perks. On the other hand, a parliamentary member gets 213,000 rupees salary per month excluding all the allowances.

Viewing poverty level and the economic situation, the perks and privileges enjoyed by our top bureaucrats, judges and parliamentarians are not suitable.