Justice system: Full court rejects request for more LHC benches

Lawyers reject the decision, Faisalabad DBA announces week-long strike

LAHORE: Lahore High Court full court has turned down a government request to establish additional benches in five divisions of the province.

The decision was announced at the conclusion of a three-day full court meeting on Monday. The full court meeting, headed by Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, discussed in detail the proposal for establishing five more benches in the provinces and decided against it. The court later sent in writing its response to a letter written in this regard by the governor on March 18, 2013.

At an emergency meeting called to deliberate on the LHC full court decision, the Faisalabad District Bar Associations (DBA) announced a strike throughout the week in protest. The DBA said that lawyers would boycott all courts till Saturday to press the LHC to reconsider its decision and to meet their demand for the establishment of a division bench.

The meeting was chaired by DBA president Chaudhry Qasier Nazir Sahi.

A resolution passed at the meeting stated that the LHC full bench decision was against the spirit of the country’s Constitution.

DBA chairman Sahi said they would expand the scope of their protest by reaching out for support to traders’ bodies, trade unions and other civil society representatives. He said they would discuss the possibility of a shutter-down strike in the city. He said the bar association would continue its protest for the establishment of a bench in Faisalabad.

Several litigants The Express Tribune spoke to about the DBA’s announcement of a week-long strike expressed their annoyance and said that strikes and boycotts by lawyers had become a routine in Faisalabad.

Muhammad Aslam said the bar association had already been observing a two-day strike. “The full week strike will further delay the hearing of case,” he said.

He said the lawyers should proceed with their protest but also ensure that litigants were not inconvenienced because of it.

Besides Faisalabad, lawyers’ associations in Sargodha, Gujranwala and Dera Ghazi Khan have also been demanding establishment of benches in their divisions.

In Gujranwala, the DBA objected to the full court decision. A group of lawyers blocked Sialkot Road for traffic and staged a demonstration against the decision.

DBA president Waqar Hussian Butt said, “Those claiming that the bar and the bench are like two wheels in the same vehicle have themselves removed one of the wheels. Now let’s see how the system can run without it.”

PbBC secretary Imran Naqvi said the decision showed that judges were concerned only about Lahore.

Bar associations in Dera Ghazi Khan and Sargodha will observe a strike against the decision on Tuesday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2016.