The Lahore High Court (LHC) here Wednesday sought reply from the federal government along with record till June 30 in a petition filed by former President Rafiq Tarar for payment of 'pay and pension' from December 1, 2001 to September 8, 2009. Earlier, Abid Hasan Minto could not appear and in his place Malik Nawaz submitted the arguments before the court.
Tarar's counsel said petitioner was entitled to receive salary from December 1, 2001 to September 8, 2009 with a raise of 85 percent at par with the current salary payable to Chief Justice of Pakistan along with arrears of the same period, which he planned to donate to welfare organisations. He prayed the court to declare that the petitioner was entitled to receive pension from September 9, 2008 at the rate of 85 percent of the salary.
The counsel on behalf of Tarar submitted that he took oath of the president's office on January 1, 1998 and at that time, salary payable to president was Rs 23000 and entitled for pension of Rs 10000. He submitted that this anomaly was against constitutional intents as the pension he draws was Rs 48,450 whereas pension of the chief justice retired during 1991 to 1994 was Rs 4,76,325.
He said Tarar be given pension benefits also as former president by declaring Pervez Musharraf as unlawful president who came after him by unlawful ways, throwing the elected government at that time. He submitted salary of president should be higher than other state functionaries including chief justice but unfortunately this principle could not be carried out as salaries of CJP and other judges had increased many times. He prayed the court to declare that the petitioner never resigned from the office and continued as president till oath of Asif Ali Zardari as president.