The Federal Ministry of Law and Justice will facilitate expeditious payment of pensionary benefits to the retired judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, it is learnt.
Senior officials of the ministry told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the retired judges will have to fill in and sign certain documents to claim their pension and unless they did so, they could not be paid their dues.
They said none of the 45 retired judges of the Supreme Court and four high courts in pursuance of the 3rd November Proclamation of Emergency and the Provisional Constitution Order had so far applied for payment of pensionary benefits.
They said that under the President's Order No 8 2007, a judge who has ceased to hold office of a judge of high court in terms of Article 3 of the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007 or has otherwise retired from service as permanent judge shall be entitled to full pension and other retirement benefits admissible to a permanent judge of a high court and the provisions of clause (3) of Article 207 of the Constitution shall apply to such a judge, including a permanent judge who had retired under the High Court Judges (Service Benefits) Order 2000.
Under President's Order No 9, a judge of the Supreme Court who had ceased to hold office in pursuance of Article 3 of the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007 shall be entitled to full pension and retirement benefits calculated on that basis. However, they said that commutation of pension shall be admissible to such judges on the basis of their actual age as on the 3rd of November 2007
Analysts point out that the judges who had declined or were not invited to take a fresh oath under the PCO do not consider themselves "retired", therefore, they were not applying for payment of pensionary benefits.
They said the conglomerate of small and nationalist parties, "All Parties Democratic Movement" was boycotting the 8th January 2008 general elections to press for their demand for restoration of the pre-3rd November judiciary. One of the three more popular parties in the field, PML (N) has made the restoration of the judiciary as number one item of its manifesto.
The 90,000 members of Bar Associations have also declared to start a "judicial bus" carrying the retired judges of the Supreme Court and high court to mobilise the public opinion across the country for reinstatement of retired Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges.
They said that they would give three weeks to the new National Assembly after January 8 to take a firm stand on this issue before they start their 'bus'. However, the other political parties contesting the elections including PPP, PML (Q) Jamiatul Ulemai-e-Islam (JUI-F) and MQM do not seem to be very enthusiastic about reinstatement of the retired judges.