Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) executive committee has expressed its serious reservation over the constitution of the six judges’ disciplinary committee by the chief justice for initiating action over the complaints of misconduct against lawyers.

The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, soon after taking oath on Tuesday, took drastic steps to bring reforms along with self-accountability in the judicial system under him.

In order to curb the rising trend of misbehavior in courts, restore a working relationship between the bar and the bench and establish effective monitoring against untoward incidents in courts, the chief justice constituted a ‘disciplinary committee’ comprising himself and six other judges of the high court to exercise powers under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973.

The committee is headed by Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Kazim Raza Shamsi, Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa, Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Justice Abdul Sami Khan, Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi and Justice Atir Mahmood.

The PBC executive committee has questioned the authority of the CJ LHC to constitute a disciplinary committee under the Legal Practitioners & Bar Councils Act, 1973 and to take any action against members of the Bar, adding that this clearly amounts to interfering with and encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the provincial & Pakistan Bar Councils. Thus, the Pakistan Bar Council is fully prepared to protect and preserve its jurisdiction.

It is a considered view of the Pakistan Bar Council that the disciplinary matters exclusively fall within the jurisdiction of the provincial & Pakistan Bar Councils and these will not accept any encroachment upon the jurisdiction.

The Pakistan Bar Council has called upon the newly appointed LHC chief justice to forthwith withdraw the notification in order to maintain cordial relations between the bench and the bar. More than 5000 complaints against the lawyers are pending before the Punjab Bar Council disciplinary committee. Under the provincial council bar’s act, the committee comprises five advocates to take up the complaints against the lawyers.