Grants to bars: Bill drawn up to make grants mandatory

‘It will put the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in an awkward situation’

ISLAMABAD:

The government is planning to introduce a bill in parliament that would make it mandatory for the federal and provincial governments to give grants to the bar councils and bar associations.

The governments are not currently legally bound to provide such grants. The federal and provincial government authorities would have the power to decide the size of the grants and when they would be given, without restriction.

The bill is ostensibly aimed at creating a regular system for the allotment of grants to bar councils and bar associations. But critics are likely to see it as an attempt to deflect opposition criticism that such grants are given to curry favour with the bar.

An official confirmed to The Express Tribune that the bill sought to silence voices critical of the federal government for what they saw as the doling out of extraordinary financial favours to the bar associations in an attempt to win their support against the judiciary.

A copy of the Amendments in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act of 1973 Bill is to be tabled in the federal cabinet when it meets here on Wednesday.

The bill, prepared by the Law Ministry, states that the grants to bar councils and bar associations are being made mandatory for the betterment of the lawyers’ community.

It says the grants shall be made keeping in view the requirements of a particular bar council or bar association.

Clause 57 of the act is to be rewritten as: “The federal government and the provincial governments shall make grants in aid to the Pakistan Bar Council, Provincial Bar Council and the Bar Associations as they may deem fit.”

An insider said the bill would put the PML-N in an awkward situation as it had opposed Law Minister Dr Babar Awan’s handing of grants to lawyers and bar associations last year. The PML-N’s opposition had upset many lawyers.

The sources said that the PML-N’s past criticisms of the law minister would make it difficult for it to support the bill. The government hopes that opposing the bill will make the PML-N look even worse to the lawyers, the source said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.