The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered demolition of all chambers illegally constructed by lawyers on a football ground in Islamabad, ordering lawyers to immediately vacate the site.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi heard the case related to the ransacking of Islamabad High Court (IHC) during a protest against demolition of illegally built chambers of the lawyers. At the outset of the hearing, the chief justice asked how much time is needed to vacate the chambers. The CJP dismissed the LHC bar’s plea stating that the structure may remain until an alternate arrangement is made. “How can we provide legal standing to something illegal,” he asked.
Maintaining the earlier verdict by IHC, Justice Gulzar asked as to why the illegal chambers should not be removed. “The lawyers have no right to stay on the ground,” he maintained. “Whoever wants to continue practicising as a lawyer may find another place,” he remarked.
The counsel for the court Shoaib Shaheen implored that there were also many courts built at the place in question. At this, Justice Gulzar ordered to remove those courts as well.
Separately, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered suspension of the licences of 21 lawyers for ransacking the chamber of Chief Justice Athar Minallah during a protest against the demolition of their alleged illegal chambers at the Islamabad District Courts last month. A three-member bench presided by Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case. “We are of the opinion that the 21 respondents arrayed in the complaint in hand had committed grave acts of indiscipline and misconduct on the 8th of February, 2021,” an order of IHC issued today read. The IHC suspended the licences of 21 lawyers including Naseer Ahmed Kayani, Tasadduq Hanif, Hammad Saeed Dar, Khalid Mehmood Khan, Ahsan Majeed Gujjar, Akhtar Hussain, Shaista Tabassum, Asad Khan, Faiser Jadoon, Hafiz Malik Mazhar Javed, Khalid Taj, Naveed Hayat Malik, Nazia Abbasi, Nusrat Parveen, Raja Amjad, Raja Khurram Farrukh, Zahid Mehmood Raja, Younas Kayani, Muhammad Umar and Moin Bazai, Pir Fida.