LAHORE, May 8: Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Saturday that the PML government believed in an independent judiciary to safeguard the rights of the people.

Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new building of the advocate-general's offices here, the chief minister committed himself to consolidation of state institutions.

The new offices of the advocate-general will be built on Fane Road over an area of two kanals out of the 11 kanals which was evacuated from the lawyers towards the end of the previous year.

Around Rs55 million is the estimated cost of the project.

Pervaiz Elahi said that the government was endeavouring to strengthen a civil society by establishing institutions that would work for the betterment of the people, particularly the neglected classes of society and the poor.

"We also rate the relations with the Bar very high in our priorities and are making maximum efforts for the welfare of the legal community," Pervaiz Elahi said.

The chief minister hoped that the new building would be completed within the next eight to nine months.

He said the media was enjoying a complete freedom and courts were free to function in ensuring the supremacy of the constitution.

He said his government had, by releasing funds to Bars at the tehsil level, set an example of its commitment to the betterment of the lawyers community.

Pervaiz Elahi said he met lawyers whenever he visited a district. He benefited a lot from such meetings because he had the first-hand knowledge about the lawyers' problems and had an excellent relations with the legal community.

The chief minister said that the Lahore High Court employees would get similar residential benefits after retirement as those of the Punjab government employees.

He also announced quotas for lawyers in all the government-sponsored residential schemes.

Advocate-General Syed Shabbar Raza Razvi said that the law officers had pursued as many as 146,618 Punjab government cases in superior courts. In a way, the law officers were working as a bridge between the Punjab government and the judiciary.

Mr Razvi also pointed out in his report for the previous year some problems which, he said, needed to be solved for a better judicial working.

The chief minister parried questions about the arrival of Mian Shahbaz Sharif and the arrest of PML-N activists. He also declined to comment when asked about the policy of his government on the former chief minister's homecoming.