The Ministry of Finance has responded to the plea of former Chief Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJP), Justice (retd) Anwar Zaheer Jamali, seeking to reimburse the cost of 2,000 electricity units per month for a period of three years.
In its response to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the matter, the Ministry of Finance’s Regulation wing stated that presently, the rules do not provide for monetization of the 2000 units.
It added that the ‘a judge on retirement and after his death, his widow, shall be entitled to 2000 units of electricity at government expenses’ as per the Paragraph 25(1)(c) of the Supreme Court Judges (Leave, Pension and Privileges) Order 1997.
Under this rule, government is required to ‘incur expenditure up to a maximum of 2000 units of electricity consumed on behalf of the retired judge of supreme court.’
It should be noted the apex court had asked the finance ministry to furnish their opinion regarding reimbursement of the cost of the consumed units of electricity (as per entitlement) adjusted through net metering (solar system).
Earlier, the ex-CJP had requested the government to reimburse the cost of 2,000 electricity units every month for three years. He had argued that he installed a 15-KV solar system at his residence from his own pocket.
Consequently, “in his bills the cost of the electricity units consumed at his residence are being adjusted through net metering (solar system) and the cost to be paid by him has been shown as “Payment Not Required”.
Source: Pro Pakistani