The tenure of each member is for five years; however, the vice-chairman holds office for one year. Earlier, Khan’s group had a majority with one member in the PBC. PHOTO: FILE
While issuing a stay against dissolving of the committees, IHC judge Noorul Haq N Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui allowed the Hamid Khan Professional Group to continue to perform the PBC’s affairs till September 19.
“Notice for a week commencing from September 19, 2016. Till then any action initiated shall remain suspended. The petitioners and all other elected committees are allowed to perform their functions,” the order stated. The court has put the respondents on notice for the next date of hearing.
Following the IHC order, the committees resumed their offices located in the Supreme Court building.
The order came in response to a petition filed by PBC Legal Education Committee Chairman Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen, Law Reforms Committee Chairman Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmed, and Appeal Committee Chairman Tahir Nasarullah Warriach, challenging the dissolution of the committees.
On September 3, the Asma Jahangir’s Democratic Group of Lawyers had secured a majority in the PBC after Abdul Fayaz, a member of the Professional Group and also the head of a PBC’s executive committee, switched allegiances to the support of the Democratic Group.
In the petition, Khan stated that the issue of reconstitution of the committee was neither included in the original regular agenda nor was made part of the additional agenda circulated a day earlier.
On September 3, he said, the vice chairman Dr Muhamamd Farogh Naseem and 10 members of the PBC requested the ex-officio chairman of the PBC, the Attorney-General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali, to defer the regular and additional agenda of the meeting in the wake of the terrorist attack in Mardan.
He said when the chairman refused the request, the vice chairman and 10 members decided not to participate in the further proceedings. He said the petitioners were surprised by news items appearing on September 4 regarding the reconstitution of new committees.
Khan added that the petitioners approached the office concerned but neither minutes of the meeting nor any other documents were provided to them.
He said that they invoked the writ jurisdiction of the court when debarred from performing their official duties.
Keeping in view the legal position, the bench admitted the petition and issued notices to the respondents calling them to file their comments within 15 days.
The country’s top body for lawyers consists of 23 elected lawyers from different provinces. The tenure of each member is for five years; however, the vice-chairman holds office for one year. Earlier, Khan’s group had a majority with one member in the PBC.
Hamid Khan’s group had dominated bar politics from 1995 to 2008.
In the recent elections, Asma’s group lost its majority after remaining in the office for eight years, but the change in loyalty brought it back into power.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2016.
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