LAHORE, June 8: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Sunday announced a Rs150 million grant for the uplift of district bar councils and associations in the Punjab and urged the district Nazims to allocate funds for these associations out of their respective budgets.

In his first-ever address to a bar gathering under the auspices of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), the president announced that Rs100 million would be provided by the federal government and the remaining amount by the provincial governments, adding that the district governments should also make contributions in this regard.

He approved the LBA’s demand for the consolidation of city’s scattered subordinate courts at one place. The LBA had suggested that premises of district courts currently under the use of the city district government may be utilized for setting up the courts scattered in different parts of the city.

The president, however, cautioned that this matter should be resolved amicably between the LBA and the city district government. He assured the lawyers that the $160 million share of the Punjab in a $300 million ADB loan for improvement of the country’s judicial system would be utilized for the development of both judiciary and the bar.

Gen Musharraf further accepted the LBA demand for installation of two elevators at the Aiwan-i-Adal. The president directed the Punjab chief minister to allocate the state land for the construction of a housing colony for lawyers. “The allocation of funds should be fair and just since the resources are scarce in comparison to the demands.”

Earlier, speaking at the gathering, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi claimed that his government had abolished the tradition of relaxing rules and regulations since it believed in the sanctity of both the law and the judiciary.

He said the provincial government was in constant touch with the lawyers community to solve the latter’s problems and support its genuine demands. The chief minister claimed that the provincial legislature had approved a record number of laws during the last five months and not a single ordinance had been used for legislation so far.

LBA president Mansoorur Rehman Khan Afridi had placed a demands package before Gen Pervez Musharraf regarding the consolidation of subordinate courts at one place, a housing colony for lawyers, installation of elevators at the Aiwan-i-Adal and the provision of an auditorium for the general house meeting and a parking lot.