ISLAMABAD, April 1: The government is not considering any proposal to abolish or merge the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) with any other judicial institution, said Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj in response to a supplementary question of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan of the PPP during Thursday's question-hour in the National Assembly.

Mr Ahsan had suggested shifting of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court to newly-constructed building of the FSC on the Constitution Avenue after what he said was the proposed abolishing of the FSC where according to him 90 per cent litigation pertained to rape and sexual offences.

The minister also informed the house that at the moment the government was not considering any proposal to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court by elevating judges from different high courts.

He conceded that seats of judges of the Supreme Court from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan were still vacant but said any recommendation for the elevation of judges in the top court had to come from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The minister was responding to a question concerning the elevation of Justice Fakharun Nisa, the senior-most judge of the LHC, who would retire within four months.

About the appointment of retired judges in different tribunals, the minister said that it was an old practice to appoint such judges on a contract basis to take advantage of their experience.

He said nine retired judges of superior courts had been appointed in the federal government after the retirement. The names of these judges are: Justice (retd) Dr Fida Muhammad Khan, Justice (retd) Zafar Iqbal Pasha, Justice (retd) Saeedur Rehman Farrukh, Justice (retd) S.A Manan, Justice (retd) S.A Rabbani, Justice (retd) Raja Muhammad Sabir, Justice (retd) Muhammad Nasim Chaudhry, Justice (retd) Rao Iqbal Ahmad Khan and Justice (retd) Amanullah Abbasi.

To another question Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Major (retd) Tanveer Hussain said the government had allocated Rs999 million to compensate for the loss of life and property in the border areas during a recent standoff when both India and Pakistan had deployed forces on the border.

He further said that an amount of Rs3.56 million had so far been disbursed among civilians as compensation for land-mine casualties in border districts of Lahore, Sindh, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Kasur.

About the damage caused to land or property, he said compensation was being paid to affected people living near the border areas after scrutiny of claims which were paid through Corps Headquarters on the basis of Rs50,000 for Shaheed and varying compensation of Rs10,000 to Rs25,000 depending on types of injury or loss of limbs.