By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Acting president and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Tuesday issued an order increasing the monthly salaries of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and other Supreme Court judges to Rs1.2 million and Rs1.1m, respectively.
The order issued by Sanjrani dated July 3, said that the changes would come into effect at once and would be deemed to have taken effect on and from the first day of the current month.
Under the order, titled the “Salary of Judges of the Supreme Court Order 2023, the CJP would be paid Rs1,229,189 per men-sem (every month) while other top court judges would be paid Rs1,161,163 per mensem.
Under the previous order issued by President Dr Arif Alvi in June 2022, the CJP’s monthly salary was Rs1,024,324 while that of other top court judges was Rs967,636.
The increase amounts to about 20pc. The order issued by Sanjrani today said that the previous order was hereby repealed.
The development comes after legislation recommending an increase in the perks of the previous and future Senate chairpersons received backlash, including from within the upper house. The Senate chairman has had a busy few days handling the responsibilities of the president’s office after Alvi travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj.
A day earlier, he had signed an ordinance to introduce further amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law, allowing the accountability watchdog to detain suspects over “non-cooperation”.
Last week, Sanjrani had also signed two bills, the amended Finance Bill 2023-24 and the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023, into law.
The finance bill was passed after the government made several changes, including fiscal tightening measures, dictated by the In-ternat¬ional Monetary Fund in a last-ditch effort to secure critical funding.
The elections law is aimed at limiting the disqualification of lawmakers to five years with a retrospec-tive effect. It also aims to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan to announce election dates unilaterally without having to consult the president.
