LAHORE: The Punjab government has allocated Rs13.636 billion for the provincial judiciary under the head of administration of justice in the 2014-15 budget.

Out of the total amount, Rs2.351 billion is development and Rs11.285 billion non-development budget.

The development budget includes construction projects of courts, residences, rest houses and judicial complexes in different districts.

The budget document reveals Rs2.27bn has been allocated for sessions courts, Rs5.57bn for civil, Rs100.15m for special, while Rs200.15m for minor offences courts.

An amount of Rs1.90bn has been allocated for new schemes, while Rs1.26m for ongoing schemes of the judiciary; Rs4.7m has been earmarked for construction of east block of the Lahore High Court, Rs10.60m for completion of Lahore Judicial Complex Phase-I, Rs170.40m for Phase-II, Rs2.4m for additional rooms at Model Town Courts, Rs10m for renovation of the LHC, and Rs300,000 for upgrading its library.

The government has further earmarked Rs300m for construction of residences for judicial officers in different districts, Rs70.5m for construction of family courts in nine districts, while Rs10.5m for construction/renovation of all bakhshi khanas (lock-ups) in the courts.

Punjab Judicial Academy has been given Rs60.578m, while Rs30.58m are for solicitor’s department, Rs440.86m for Mufassil Establishment and Rs340.57m for the Advocate General Punjab office.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2014