Bar-bench relations: LBA official, judge get into a spat

The judge’s refusal to delay a case triggered argument.

LAHORE:

A judge and a Lahore Bar Association (LBA) office-bearer had an argument on Saturday when the former turned down a request to put off a hearing, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A witness said LBA Vice President Ghulam Abbas Sahir requested family court judge Muhammad Rashid to adjourn the hearing.

He said the judge told Sahir, the counsel for the respondents, he had already given him the “last opportunity” to submit his reply. “Sahir insisted. When the judge still refused he got angry and used foul language. The judge replied in the same tone,” the witness said requesting anonymity. He said Sahir then told Rashid he would get him transferred to a far-flung area.

“The judge told him to do whatever he wished… he said the hearing would not be put off.” He said noise attracted a number of lawyers and litigants. “The argument went off for 10 minutes. Judges from nearby courtrooms came over and pacified them,” the witness said.

He said Rashid later reported the matter to Senior Civil Judge Khalid Saeed Wattoo. Sahir went and complained to District and Sessions Judge Tariq Iftikhar Ahmad, he said.

Wattoo told The Express Tribune there was some misunderstanding.

Sahir denied he had requested for an adjournment.

“I only requested him to decide the case of another lawyer, Mubashir Majid Dogar, on merit.” He said he would file a reference against Rashid in a few days.

Judge Rashid was not available for his comments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2014.