Supreme Court Bar criticises 'Access to Justice' loan spendings

The Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association has expressed grave concern over the "unproductive spendings" of the $350 million "Access to Justice Loan" obtained from the Asian Development Bank at a very high interest rate of nine percent.
Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, the Bar President, Tariq Mahmood said all the expenditure were misguided as money was being spent to replace the personal and official transport fleet, refurbishing of the court rooms by changing settings and carpets.
The loan was given by the ADB for construction of new court buildings and increasing the number of judicial officers and other staff and modernisation of the equipment.
These programmes have been put into lower priorities and may be taken up if the money is left after the high priority expenditure.
Other officials of the Association flanked the PSCBA President at the news conference. His criticism of the spendings by the judiciary came just two days before a seminar jointly sponsored by the Supreme Court and the Bar Association that will discuss Access to Judiciary or Alternate Dispute Resolution.
The one-day seminar will be presided over by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui and will addressed by eminent jurists including some former senior judges including Mian Allah Nawaz, former Chief Justice of the Punjab.
Tariq Mahmood was a member of the Balochistan High Court and served on the national Election Commission, resigning his position before the nation went to polls in October 2002. A few months later, he vacated his job on the Bench also.
He said the rate of interest agreed to by the Pakistan Government and Asian Development Bank was the highest. This will put extra burden on the nation without improving the judicial system.
The Chief of nation's highest forum of senior lawyers that that the current schedule of expenses should be scrapped and instead that money should be allocated to appoint more judges, construction of better Court rooms and the modernisation of the work tools.
He repudiated a suggestion that there were differences between the Senior Judiciary and the Bar Associations and said that instead their relations between the two were cordial and at best in the recent years.
The criticism on the expenditures being incurred by the managers of the judiciary, he pointed out were in the best interest and keeping in view the dignity and prestige of the judicial forums.