Bar councils need to enforce a code of ethics: Chief Justice

CJP advises lawyers to adhere to a professional code of conduct, saying bar councils need to enforce a code of ethics.

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday advised lawyers to adhere to a professional code of conduct, saying bar councils need to enforce a code of ethics.

“They also need to clear the dockets of pending complaints against advocates,” he said, pointing out that currently 192 complaints and 27 appeals are pending against advocates of the Supreme Court before disciplinary committees, which require prompt processing and decisions. “It is vital for improving the image of the bar that wrongdoers are dealt with according to the law,” he said.

Addressing a seminar on ‘dispensation of justice and challenges ahead’, organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the chief justice said that democracy is a multidimensional concept that is not just confined to holding periodical elections.

He said that all state organs are responsible for dispensing justice and the judiciary is empowered to act as a referee if there is an interjection from any of the organs.

Highlighting the role of the bar in dispensing justice, the chief justice said lawyers have been, and always shall be, the strategic partner in the system of the dispensation of justice. He said the lawyers’ movement, with the assistance of the civil society and media, played a pivotal role and brought the lawyers of this country in the forefront of new challenges.

The chief justice also said that the recommendations of the seminar will be placed before the committee making the national judicial policy for consideration.

SCBA President Asma Jehangir said that although lawyers have come a long way in achieving independence of the judiciary and the bar, there are major goals, including the delivery of justice to the average citizen, which are yet to be achieved.  Asma said the lawyers’ movement had raised hopes of the people who now expect the lawyers to play a leading role in promoting a more egalitarian and just system for each and every citizen of the country.  “The aim is to put our minds together to produce a strategy that addresses substantive issues which are presently hindering the effective delivery of justice,” she said.

Federal law minister Babar Awan and Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa also addressed at the gathering.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2011.