LAHORE: The decision by Punjab’s outgoing cabinet to form five more benches of the Lahore High Court stirred the lawyers throughout the week.
If this announcement developed a soft corner for the Punjab cabinet among lawyers from Faisalabad, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Dera Ghazi Khan, it alienated lawyers in Lahore and drove a wedge between the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the district bars.
The LHCBA called an emergency general house meeting last week and opposed the cabinet’s decision.
The lawyers from the five divisions have been demanding the LHC chief justice to approve benches in their areas. They have also announced a “movement” against the LHC and the LHCBA if they opposed the benches.
The Faisalabad division lawyers have been on strike for a month. The decision of the Punjab cabinet strengthened their resolve and. They met lawyers’ representatives from other divisions on March 14 in Faisalabad to formulate a strategy.
The LHCBA too held two general house meetings last week. In its first meeting, it rejected the cabinet’s decision, calling it a move to dent the lawyers’ unity. It also announced it would take up the matter with superior judiciary.
In its second meeting, the LHCBA decided to file a petition for the restoration of a petition filed by late Advocate MD Tahir in 1981.
The lawyers of five divisions where new LHC benches have been formed are of the view that only Lahore-based lawyers are against the formation of LHC benches, thinking that their practice will suffer if new benches are formed. They said the Lahore lawyers were not sensitive to the miseries of lawyers and litigants from remote areas, who had to reach Lahore a day before their hearing is scheduled at the LHC.
The anti-benches lawyers say the LHC would lose its majesty and be considered a “sessions court” if new benches are established. They argue that too many benches would result in the LHC losing its pre-eminent position and its decisions would then by ignored by the executive.
The decision of the cabinet apart, it had also announced to form more LHC benches a few years ago. The veto rests with the Lahore High Court chief justice.
The bar, acting responsibly last week in the wake of news about the nomination of retired judges as prime minister and chief ministers, demanded the retired judges to stay away from politics. The lawyers’ top body, Pakistan Bar Council, had voiced this demand, saying that political offices should be seen as beneath the status the judges enjoyed.
The PBC and the LHCBA have also reiterated their demand for amending the rules of judicial appointments commission, allowing all JC members to nominate a person as a judge and hold open JC proceedings instead of in-camera.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2013.