ISLAMABAD, June 18: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government which, under public pressure, recently agreed to increase government servants’ salaries by 10 per cent, now has to concede some more on court orders.

On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed that the 20 per cent special allowance that its predecessor announced for selected servants in March should be paid to all servants without discrimination.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui gave the direction after Additional Secretary Finance Hassan Raza Zafar and Joint Secretary Mohammad Hanif informed the court that the notification issued by the PPP-led government on March 6 specifically mentioned that “the special allowance is not allowed to the employees of the secretariats of the president, the prime minister, the Wafaqi Mohtasib, the Federal Tax Ombudsman, the National Assembly and the Senate and all other entities already being paid any additional allowance”.

Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri additionally argued that it was the prerogative of the government to approve special allowance for selected employees.

Justice Siddiqui, who was hearing 23 petitions filed by the left-out employees, observed that it was discriminatory on the part of the government to approve the special allowance for the employees working in the federal ministries but ignore those working in the attached departments of the federal government.

The petitions filed by the employees of the attached departments such as the Capital Development Authority, Pakistan Council of Science and Technology, the National Archives, the Departments of Communication Security and of Libraries, the National Centre for Rural Development, Pakistan Public Works Department, the cabinet division in the IHC sought the 20 per cent allowance as they were not given any grant from the federal government.

While citing the ministry of finance and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat as respondents, the petitioners submitted to the court that the Finance Division during the tenure of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had issued an office memorandum on March 6, 2013, wherein it was informed that the prime minister had approved 20 per cent special allowance to the employees working in the federal ministries/divisions and Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

The petitioners adopted that the employees of the federal government, like the employees of the secretariats of the president, the prime minister and the Wafaqi Mohtasib’s secretariat were already receiving special allowances equivalent up to 100 per cent of their basic pay whereas the employees of the attached departments denied the special allowances when the latter also fall into the category of federal government employees.

The petitioners had prayed to the court to direct the government to pay the 20 per cent special allowance without discrimination to all the employees of the federal government.

During the earlier hearings in May, the IHC bench had directed the ministry of finance to apprise the court whether the employees of the attached departments or autonomous bodies were getting any special allowance.

But after their reluctance, it summoned the additional secretary finance.