LHC chief justice makes financial records public

LAHORE: Chief Justice Lahore High Court (LHC) Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Friday disclosed his financial records by forwarding the details to provincial Information Commission under Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013.

Forwarding the financial information, Registrar LHC’s press release asserted that a government authority or official can have an access to information relating the public affairs under the act. However, it prohibits authorities to ask for any kind of information pertaining to personal affairs of an individual.

“The information was disclosed and forwarded in order to retain the reverence of Chief Justice’s post despite the law prohibits for it,” the statement added.

The statement insisted that Chief Justice is not director of any company and he was appointed as director in his family textile mill when he was a student. However, he relinquished his designation after completion of his law degree. “The details which were sought pertaining to textile mills by Information Commission Punjab, was sold back in 1988 and the ownership was transferred in 1990 under the High Court’s orders,” statement further added.

Shedding light on Chief Justice’s personal life, the LHC registrar’s press release said he started practicing law after completion of the degree. The Chief Justice through the press release also gave an explanation that as a judge he had never taken any kind of loan and neither write off it.

The statement further said that the Chief Justice received Rs6.4 million for medical treatment of his son abroad on medical board recommendations and remaining amount of Rs2 million was returned to public exchequer.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has also published income tax report for the fiscal year 2016-17 on the LHC’s website.