LHC CJ agrees to change disciplinary body

The basic aim of the supervisory committee will be to identify cases of lawyers’ grave misconduct


Hasnaat Malik July 04, 2016
PBC executive member Tahir Nasrullah said that Justice Mansoor will focus on administrative reforms rather judicial activism. PHOTO: anheimblog

ISLAMABAD: Following criticism, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has shown willingness to amend a notification regarding the constitution of a disciplinary committee to penalise lawyers for misconduct.

A delegation of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) executive committee met the LHC chief justice last week, PBC executive member Ghulam Mustafa Kanwal told The Express Tribune on Sunday. He said the chief justice has agreed to amend the notification and convert the disciplinary committee to a ‘supervisory committee’.

“The basic aim of the supervisory committee will be to identify cases of lawyers’ grave misconduct and refer them to a disciplinary committee comprised of five lawyers,” Kanwal said. He added that superior bars do not object to the constitution of the supervisory committee, which would only suspend the practicing license of guilty lawyers and refer their cases to the lawyers’ disciplinary committee.

Another PBC executive member Raheel Kamran Sheikh said if the notification is amended, PBC will withdraw its earlier statement questioning Justice Mansoor’s authority to constitute a disciplinary committee under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973.

Justice Mansoor constituted the disciplinary committee – headed by him and comprising six other judges – soon after taking oath as LHC chief justice last Tuesday.

Legal experts say Justice Mansoor, as the top judge of Punjab, will bring revolutionary changes in the judiciary. Representatives of all lawyers groups have welcomed his appointment.

Former PBC vice chairman Azam Nazeer Tarar said Justice Mansoor will introduce administrative reforms in the district judiciary.  Another top jurist, Khawaja Haris, agreed with Tarar but said the new LHC chief justice should bring about reforms ‘silently’. Haris added that judicial officers should be allowed the right of due process before carrying out coercive actions against them.

Meanwhile, another PBC executive member Tahir Nasrullah said that Justice Mansoor will focus on administrative reforms rather judicial activism.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2016.

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