Bridging gap between citizens and judiciary

LHC’s 150 years celebrated without hindering proceedings

LAHORE: The 40-day sesquicentennial celebrations of Lahore High Court, which have come to a close, did not only involve lawyers and judges but also had locals participate in the events. While the events were held amid fanfare, it was made sure court proceedings were not delayed.

The celebrations, that started November 1, were aimed at making the citizens know that the courts belonged to them.

The events were planned by LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who made sure locals also participate, besides judges and court staff.

Moreover, the media was also given access to LHC’s records, building and courtrooms so that they could write stories and make packages for the awareness of common people. For the first time in the history of LHC, it is said, video and still cameras were allowed to be taken for the coverage of proceedings of full court reference in court of the chief justice. The full court reference was also part of the celebrations which was organised to pay tribute to late judges of the LHC and notable lawyers of Lahore.

Flag hoisted

The celebrations started with flag hoisting at LHC’s principal seat at its all three allied benches, in Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur. Most of the activities of the celebrations, between November 1 and December 10, were scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays, when lawyers and judges are off from the court.

Symposiums were held in 10 districts while on the next day a cricket match between two teams of LHC judges took place at Gymkhana Cricket Ground. On the same day another set of cricket matches was played among judges of the district judiciary of nine districts. Besides cricket, a golf match between judges had also taken place during the celebrations.

The next day, children of different schools visited the courts of nine districts. Conferences were organised in nine different districts.

A symposium was also arranged at the Multan branch of Lahore High Court, while on the same day conferences took place in nine different districts.

A museum was also inaugurated on the occasion to showcase antiques relating to the provincial judiciary and old cases.

On the same day a talk show took place at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

The concluding ceremony took place on December 10 in Lahore with a grand judicial conference. The chief justice of Pakistan, judges of the Supreme Court, LHC and representatives of bars of the country attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2016.