ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan is expected to get a total of Rs1.8 billion during the 2017-18 fiscal year out of the Rs5.54bn allocated to the Ministry of Law and Justice in the federal budget.

As compared to last year, allocations to the law and justice ministry and allied departments have registered an increase of Rs30 million, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while presenting the budget in the National Assembly on Friday.

It is expected that Rs1.82bn will go to the Supreme Court, Rs486m to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Rs2.34bn to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Rs670m to the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat and Rs224m to the Federal Tax Ombudsman.

Budget for the ministry has registered an increase of Rs30m against last year’s funding

Under the 2015-16 budget, the ECP was supposed to get Rs2.15bn but the allocation was revised to Rs5.89bn due to a massive exercise conducted by the commission to hold local government elections in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capital Territory and a number of cantonment boards across the country.

The budgetary allocation for the apex court was initially fixed at Rs1.74bn last year but then it was revised to Rs1.7bn. Now, its budget has been increased to Rs1.817bn of which Rs1.34bn has been earmarked for employee-related expenses — Rs381m will go to salaries of the judges, officers and other court staff and Rs958.8m to allowances — and Rs65m for repairs and maintenance.

Likewise, Rs2.5m will be spent on different allowances, subsidies and writing off loans. Last year, a budget of Rs848m was allocated in this regard.

Similarly, out of the Rs486m reserved for the IHC, a hefty amount of Rs424m has been reserved for employee-related expenses that include Rs150m for salaries of the judges, officers and other court staff.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017