PESHAWAR(National Times)- Two summaries put up by the Peshawar High Court to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in March this year are awaiting approval for the harmonisation of non-wage facilities offered to the district judiciary throughout the country in line with a decision of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC).
Official documents reveal that following the NJPMC’s approval of recommendations, the Peshawar High Court initiated two summaries simultaneously on March 4, 2026, for consideration and approval by the provincial government, with one being about the monetisation of the transport facility available to judicial officers at the district level and the other calling for uniformity in their salary and allowances.
The recommendations were approved during a NJPMC meeting chaired by the chief justice of Pakistan on Feb 11, 2026. The recommendations included uniform rates of monetisation allowance for judicial officers throughout Pakistan including Rs195,000 per month for district and session judges (BPS-21), Rs175,000 per month for additional district and sessions judge (BPS-20), Rs150,000 per month for senior civil judges (BPS-19) and Rs100,000 per month for civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates (BPS-18).
Even before the approval of the NJPMC’s recommendations, the high court put up a proposal on the issue following which a high-level meeting under the chairmanship of the adviser to the chief minister for finance was convened on Jan 21, 2026, to deliberate on the same.
During the meeting, the Peshawar High Court director (finance) explained the rationale behind introduction of the monetisation policy and had apprised the participants that the proposal envisaged grant of monetisation allowance in lieu of official vehicles, fuel, maintenance and repairs, while also providing a mechanism for retention of existing drivers and disposal of official vehicles on depreciated value.
In the meeting, the finance department had agreed in principle to several of the proposals.
In the summary moved for uniformity in the pay and allowances, it is proposed that the special judicial allowance of the judicial officers, which is presently 100 per cent of the initial and 50 per cent of the running basic pay, should be increased to 150 per cent of the running basic pay.
It also proposed changes in several other allowances including judicial allowance, orderly allowance, house rent, mobile phone charges, and monetised telephone charges.
The summary also included post- retirement benefits for district and session judges including 250 units per month of electricity and 10 HM3 per month of natural gas.
Similarly, in the summary moved for monetisation of the transport facility for judicial officers, the recommendations made by the NJPMC have been included.
Other terms and conditions proposed by the PHC have also been included in the summary. According to them, officers with official vehicles may be given the first option to purchase the official vehicles under their use at depreciated price (other than SUV Toyota Fortuners purchased for hilly districts); the recovery instalments may be Rs50,000 per month and the remaining amount may be recovered before the age of superannuation; services of existing drivers shall be available to the officers at rate of Rs10,000 per month as deduction from their salary, and the driver’s post may be transferred to dying cadre.
According to official documents, the law and parliamentary affairs department, regarding the pay and allowance uniformity proposal, had formally sought certain additional data on May 12 regarding the financial implications of the proposed revised package. The requisite information, including the tentative financial implications worked out cadre-wise, was compiled by the PHC and furnished to the law department through a letter on May 13, 2026, following which the matter remained pending before the provincial government.
Also, the Peshawar High Court convened a meeting on July 7 for resolving certain issues raised by the provincial government. The participants included the provincial advocate general, secretaries of the administration and excise and taxation departments, additional secretary (finance), representatives of the law department and senior officers of the high court.
The agreed recommendations of the said meeting were also communicated to the provincial government through a letter on July 15 for further processing of the case and approval of the competent authority.
The NJPMC had constituted a committee led by a former Supreme Court judge for evaluating disparities and proposed a way forward. Its other prominent members included the chief justices of the Lahore and Balochistan high courts.
The said committee put forward certain recommendations, following which the NJPMC chairman constituted another committee comprising high court chief justices to review the said recommendations.
They recommended a report after necessary alterations related to the harmonisation of service conditions for the district judiciary throughout the country, with the NJPMC approving it on Feb 11, 2026.
