What happens when defenders and custodians of law themselves trample all over the law? The lawyers’ chambers around the District Courts in Islamabad are illegal. But to compound the illegality, prominent lawyers are raising a new structure upon the single-storey chambers. What would you call this travesty of law?
Double whammy or compound illegality? In the eyes of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) these chambers on public space are totally illegal.
When his attention was drawn to this brazen encroachment by the black coats, a top CDA official said, “We cannot touch lawyers and clerics.”
Who will stop them from such blatant violations if not a state institution?
The same lawyers also want the government land for their housing society. Isn’t it blackmailing by those who are supposed to prevent and thwart blackmailing?
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the embodiment of best practitioners of law, for instance, is pressurising the CDA to acquire land for them under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
And to justify what is an extremely bloated sense of entitlement, the SCBA recently responded to a news story in a national daily by saying: “It is not the first case regarding the city of Islamabad. More than 20 to 30 housing societies were established and lands were acquired for them through the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.”
Several senior judges, the report said, are also members of the SCBA housing society and their names are being used to force the local administration to acquire land for them.
The issue at hand is; why should the state lands be doled out on concessional rates to extremely high-income group professionals like lawyers, top bureaucrats, military officers and their cronies? All professionals, including lawyers, are making hefty living for themselves and are not into any public service. Why should they expect the state to provide them a place for their chambers, or in this case, occupy public property?
Why are lead lawyers silent over the abuse of black coats by people within their ranks? Who will step forward to stop this mockery of laws at the heart of the courts in Islamabad?
Precisely, this was the issue of Jamia Hafsa next to the Red Mosque. It had been raised illegally on state land. Land grabbers do the same wherever they spot free spaces. Lawyers and the media condemn appropriation of state lands but have no qualms about illegal occupation of state lands. Many media houses, for instance, have sealed off public roads to restrict public access to their properties. Where is the respect for rule of law? Will the judiciary intervene in this case too?
Published in Daily Times, October 24th 2017.