The employees of the Punjab consumer courts will continue to suffer for another year as no funds have been allocated for the courts in the provincial budget for 2012-13 despite the fact that the government earmarked Rs 9.265 billion for the administration of justice. The consumer courts employees have been demanding Judicial Utility Allowance, job security, basic infrastructure and essential equipment over the past four years but their demands have fallen on deaf ears.
An official, on the condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that the consumer courts project had barely survived at the hands of the Shahbaz Sharif government since it was launched under the Punjab Consumer Protection Act 2005 by the then Pervaiz Elahi-led government.
The official alleged that the Shahbaz Sharif government had cut the funds allocated for the project by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) soon after it took over in 2008. The consumer courts were established in eleven districts of Punjab to provide protection and promotion of the rights and interests of consumers and for the speedy redress of consumer complaints against manufacturers.
He said the courts were a victim of political indecision and might face extinction as most employees had left their jobs due to job insecurity. He said the lack of staff and equipment were other reasons which might affect the performance of the courts, adding that the courts had decided 5,000 cases since their inception while merely 500 cases were pending which was a true exponent of speedy justice under the courts – a fact which was hailed by the Lahore High Court.
The official said the courts had been meted out a selective treatment by the District Coordination Officers (DCOs) and others as the Lahore court was set up in a rented building while no infrastructure was available for the secure storage of the court records. Interestingly, the Punjab government set aside Rs 1.889 billion for the High Court, Rs 1.745 billion for sessions courts, Rs 4.771 billion for civil courts, Rs 81 million for Special Courts, Rs 25 million for Courts of Small Causes, Rs 56 million for the Punjab Judicial Academy, Rs 29 million for the solicitors’ department, Rs 358 million for Mufassil Establishment and Rs 305 million for the Advocate General office but no attention has been paid to the consumer courts.
The consumer courts Lahore staff have demanded the Punjab government to take notice of the fact and to allocate funds for the courts and provide job security as well as the perks given to the other judicial staff.
