Too close for comfort: ‘Bar and bench must keep distance’

LHC chief justice urges lawyers to attend 150th anniversary celebrations


Our Correspondent November 26, 2016
LHC PHOTO: EXPRESS

LAHORE: As lawyers continued their boycott of events related to the Lahore High Court’s 150th anniversary, Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said on Saturday the bar and bench were all cogs of the same wheel but needed to keep a safe distance.

He stressed the judges and lawyers needed to maintain a distance as crossing certain boundaries could prove detrimental for the judicial process.

The CJ was addressing a district judiciary conference held to mark the 150th anniversary of the LHC. High court, additional district and sessions and civil judges were among those who attended the conference along with prominent lawyers.

Justice Shah said the role of a lawyer was to study the case and argue it to the best of his or her abilities. The judicial system, he added, had been ruined through politicisation and stressed that bar associations should run their affairs while the court needs to keep its own house in order.

The chief justice said the menace of corruption and other problems will cease to exist if decisions are taken on merit. He said cowardice was also hindering the rule of law. Justice Shah emphasised that the masses needed prompt justice and urged bar associations to stand with the judicial system by setting their differences aside.

He found it regrettable that the bars were not present at the conference and extended a last minute invitation to attend the 150th anniversary which will be held in the coming days.

He said this was not just the anniversary of some judges, but of an entire institution. He said bar associations should discuss their differences to strengthen the system. He pointed out that if prominent lawyers such as SM Zafar and Abid Hassan Manto were present at the conference, the others should follow suit.

Manto, who was at the conference despite the legal fraternity’s boycott, said it was difficult for him to decide whether to attend or not. He echoed the CJ’s views when he said that the occasion was not just the anniversary of a chief or an individual.

He stressed nobody can be above the law and strongly opposed any legislation which violated the rights of the masses. The lawyer spoke in favour of laws protected people.

Advocate Zafar, meanwhile, said corruption, deceit and terrorism were plaguing the rule of law. He asked where the rule of law stood when the response of a substantial argument came in the form of a gunshot.

Citing the recent incident in which judges were locked out of a district and sessions court, he regretted the fact that hooliganism had crept into the legal system. “Those involved in such incidents are tarnishing the reputation of lawyers,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2016.

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