A substantial monthly honorarium of Rs1.2 million has been designated by the Punjab Standing Committee of Cabinet on Finance and Development for retired Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed to lead the Punjab Commission on Irregular Housing Schemes, discarding the Punjab Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) department’s recommendation of allowing honoraria at the rate of (minimum) pay scale MP-I.
Justice Saeed has served as a member of the bench that heard the case of Panama Papers and was appointed as head of the Broadsheet Commission by the federal government following his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2019. He has also served in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as deputy prosecutor general.
Earlier in 2004, Justice Saeed was appointed as a judge of the Lahore High Court. He was the chief justice of the LHC from 2011 to 2012 till his elevation to the Supreme Court.
Furthermore, the cabinet committee has also rejected the recommendation of the LG&CD department regarding paying the commission member honoraria at the rate of (minimum) pay scale MP-II and greenlighted the payment to each of the two members at the flat rate of Rs600,000 per month. It must be noted that the finance department has recommended Rs400,000 each for two members.
The LG&CD department had recommended the MP-II pay scale for co-opted members, with those from the private sector and Rs100,000 from the public sector. However, the Punjab government has granted Rs200,000 honoraria for the co-opted member from the private sector and Rs100,000 for members from the public sector.
The Punjab government has continued the LG&CD department’s recommendation of offering Rs100,000 per month honoraria to the commission registrar.
The total amount being spent on the salary package of the commission chairman, members and registrar by the Punjab government is Rs32.4m.
After the summary initiated by the LG&CD department, the finance department allowed enhanced rates of Rs400,000 per month honoraria for the commission members and maintained the honoraria for co-opted members as well as the registrar at the rate of Rs100,000 each per month.
The Standing Committee of Cabinet on Finance and Development had deliberated over the LG&CD department summary and the finance department recommendations during its October 27 meetings, the minutes of which were released on Monday.
It must be noted that the LG&CD department had presented a draft budget proposal amounting to Rs62.39m for the commission on the basis of the proposed rates for the honorarium. The department had further mentioned in the summary that the commission would be meant to exist for one-year subject to the decision of the government to extend it for another year.
The LG&CD department also explained to the chief minister that it had taken over custody of eight rooms in the Chamba House, on the basis of rents allocated by the federal ministry of housing and works.
The chief minister had provided the LG&CD department summary to the Standing Committee of Cabinet on Finance and Development for final recommendation. He would deliver his final verdict on the basis of the cabinet committee’s recommendations.
