ISLAMABAD, June 9: The federal government has asked the governor of Punjab to direct the provincial government departments, including the Lahore High Court, to submit projects for judicial, police and administrative reforms, which would be funded under the Asian Development Bank’s loan of $350 million.

A federal government official told Dawn on Sunday that it had received $100 million from the ADB under the Access to Justice Programme, but the Punjab government had not submitted any project yet for funding under the programme.

He said requests for the release of funds had been received through the ministry of interior on a misconception that it was a “project loan”. He clarified that it was a “programme loan”, which could only be utilized if programmes were submitted and approved by the federal government for funding.

The federal government has decided to write to the Punjab governor after the refusal of the LHC to fulfil the conditionalities which the government had agreed to at the time of signing the loan agreement.

The LHC, in response to the communication by the federal government, refused to furnish any detail with regard to the next tranche of the ADB loan for administrative and judicial reforms.

It is feared that if the row between the federal government and the Punjab government continues, the next incentive tranche of $50 million would not be released, as it has been linked to the fulfilment of the conditionalities to which the government had agreed at the time of signing the loan agreement.

It is for the first time that any lending agency has extended loan for judicial reforms. The judiciary has been resisting the Access to Justice Programme (AJC) under which it is required to improve its performance in terms of disposal of cases.

The LHC chief justice, in his recent communication to the federal government, has taken the position that it is a matter of court’s “internal administration” and would not like any interference.

The government agreed with the ADB that full time benches for commercial cases would be established in Lahore and Sindh high courts.

Under the Access to Justice Programme, every high court is required to finalize a time-bound plan for professionalising its management.

The loan’s maturity period is 24 years, including a grace period of eight years. During this grace period, a commission fee of one per cent would be charged. The interest rate during the amortization period will be 1.5 per cent per annum.