Access to justice: ‘Ensuring implementation of laws key issue’

Nasira Javed Iqbal says military courts constituted due to lawyers’ conduct.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik said on Saturday that introduction of reforms in the case management system and formulation of other policies would ensure that no case filed by 2007 was left pending.

He was speaking at a conference on the effective role of Punjab Bar Council for access to justice as the chief guest. Malik said the nation had a good set of laws but ensuring their effective implementation was a pressing issue. He said it was incumbent on lawyers’ elected representatives to formulate suggestions on this account. Malik said the bar should take steps to educate novices about how to conduct themselves in court. He said lawyers and judges were expected to respect each other.

Malik said the conference was on the role of the bar for access to justice but everyone had used the occasion to place demands before him. He said representatives of lawyers, judges, police, and the prison and prosecution departments were present while litigants had been left unrepresented at the conference.

PbBC Vice Chairman Farah Ijaz Baig gave the welcome address at the conference. She stressed the need for considering every litigant as equal before court. Baig said the bar had constituted a legal aid committee, a jail reform committee and a human rights committee to facilitate public access to justice.

Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal said reconciliation councils had played a pivotal role in meting out speedy justice. She said their role was especially important with regard to ensuring the provision of justice to women. Iqbal said the councils had been lying dysfunctional due to the absence of local bodies for the past eight years.

She said Justice (r) Nasir Aslam Zahid had attempted to ensure the swift disposal of jail appeals after visiting prisons. Iqbal said the legal community in Karachi had taken to the streets against him. She said lawyers had accused him of endangering their practices by offering free counsel to inmates.

Iqbal said military courts had been constituted due to the conduct of lawyers towards courts. She said bars should revive legal aid committees to provide the underprivileged with free counselling services. Iqbal said seniors at noted legal firms gave no attention to budding lawyers. She said many used them to prepare cases without paying them.

Iqbal said everyone spoke about eradicating touts. She said bars should provide alternatives on this account if they are serious about doing this. Iqbal said only touts briefed litigants properly as people found lawyers unapproachable. She said the Right to Information Act must be implemented in letter and spirit and whistleblowers must be protected.

Justice (r) Fakharunissa Khokhar said the common man had to pawn prized possessions to get justice. She asked the chief justice to urge judges to listen to the counsel of such people with patience.

Senior Advocate Hamid Khan demanded the PbBC to close all substandard law colleges. He said such institutions had been churning out brief less lawyers and obstructing the quick disposal of cases. Khan said legal luminaries should establish law firms and accommodate new talent there.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Pir Masood Chishti said struggling to ensure the provision of justice to people was the chief purpose of the bar. He said only judges and lawyers were thought to be the primary components of the justice system. Chishti said such an approach overlooked litigants.

PbBC representatives announced on the occasion that they had vowed to never go on strike over the course of their five-year tenures.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2015.