ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Tuesday, decided that the staff of the lower courts shall also be entitled to a special judicial allowance (SJA), which was currently being given to the employees of superior courts.

Islamabad district judiciary staff, through a petition, adopted that the non-payment of SJA to the district judiciary is discriminatory since it is being paid to the judicial staff of Supreme Court and High Courts.

The legal counsel for the petitioners argued that the judicial staff of the district judiciary is performing its duties in a more risky environment, and therefore they were entitled to the same relief.

He further contended that the allowance was being denied due to the non-availability of funds with the government.

Arguing in the matter of the federal service tribunal (FST) Lahore’s employees, advocate Shuaib Shaheen argued that the employees of FST Lahore had not been given SJA, unlike their counterparts in Islamabad and Karachi.

The court accepted the petition and directed the government to pay the allowance.