Lahore High Court: Petition filed against strike calls by bar

The petition was filed saying that a handful of lawyers used the LBA platform for their personal interests.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court chief justice admitted for regular hearing on Friday a petition challenging a court boycott by the Lahore Bar Association (LBA).

The petition was filed by Advocate Shahid Rana saying that a handful of lawyers used the LBA platform for their personal interests. He said a general house with not more than 50 members could not take the decision to strike on the bar’s behalf. He said the strike had increased the miseries of litigants as thousands of cases were adjourned without hearing.

He said sometimes the lawyers also forced the judges not to hold courts. He requested the court to issue a restraining order against such boycotts observed on LBA’s call. The chief justice observed that it was not the court’s responsibility to stop lawyers from observing strikes. He also remarked that the Pakistan Bar Council or the Punjab Bar Council were the appropriate forums to take up such issues. Admitting the petition for regular hearing, the CJ adjourned it for two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.