LAHORE – The Lahore High Court on Tuesday referred a petition filed by district attorneys/law officers seeking executive allowance to the Punjab chief secretary.
The petition has been filed by district attorneys/law officers working with various administrative departments.
During the hearing, petitioner Raj Maqsood and others argued through their counsel Ch Shoaib Saleem on maintainability of the writ petition. They told the court that as per Section 4 (1) and (1-A) of the Punjab Service Tribunal Act 1974 the service tribunal had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter as no final order had been passed by any department authority.
The counsel said the policy of awarding executive allowance to various civil servants was approved by the cabinet and then notified by the Punjab governor, hence this policy matter could only be reviewed by the high court under Article 199 of the Constitution.
The lawyer concluded that the objection to Article 212 of the Constitution was not applicable to the present petition due to the reason that members of the service tribunal too were beneficiaries of the executive allowance.
On the other hand, the assistant advocate general opposed this assertion and argued that the petition was related to terms and conditions of the civil servants, hence this court had no jurisdiction to take up this matter.
More than 20 petitioner law officers/attorney were present in the court and showed their consent that the matter be referred to the chief secretary to redress their grievances.
The petitioner law officers had moved the court with the assertion that they passed the competitive exam of the Punjab Public Service Commission (BS-17&18) and were working as assistant/deputy district attorneys/law officers in all districts of the province.
They said they had been rendering services on the same pattern as law officers working with the Punjab Advocate General’s Office. However, the government granted executive allowance (1.5 times of monthly basic pay) to all officers of the same rank working in the S&GAD but the petitioners were denied this benefit in a discriminatory manner.
Their counsel argued that officers of the S&GAD had been given the executive allowance and they have become superior to those working in other departments in the same grade despite the fact that petitioners were dealing with more critical legal matters.
He said the act of the government was based on discrimination and it was in violation of fundamental rights therefore it was liable to be declared illegal and unlawful. He sought court’s direction to the government to provide executive allowance to petitioners as well.
Justice Muzamal Akhtar Shabbir heard the arguments from both sides and referred the matter to the Punjab chief secretary, directing him to decide it within two months.
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