‘Legal’ transformations: Lawyers eye old bakhshi khana for office space

Advocates say they won’t allow the building to be converted into courtrooms.

LAHORE:

While the official word is that the old bakhshi khana of the Model Town Courts will be converted into two courtrooms, several groups of lawyers are preparing to occupy the old building to set up their own offices.

The district and sessions judge told The Express Tribune last week that three judicial magistrates operating from the same room at the court complex would be given their own rooms at the old bakhshi khana. But several lawyers at the courts said that a battle to take over the space for chambers was heating up.

“We will fight to set up our chambers there,” said Advocate Azmat Zia Sindhu, who heads one group of lawyers eyeing the old building. “If the LBA [Lahore Bar Association] tries to stop us, we will resist. This place should be for lawyers’ chambers.”

He said that LBA vice president (Model Town) Mian Muhammad Hafeez was also trying to occupy the building for offices for his associates.

Advocate Shahid Meo leads a group of 15-20 young lawyers also looking to set up offices at the old bakhshi khana. “We met with the Model Town vice president to ask for accommodation but he turned a deaf ear. We have seen that those lawyers who are associated with LBA cabinet representatives are accommodated and allowed to occupy any space in the court complex. The rest don’t get anything,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Meo too said that Hafeez and his associates were among those battling for the old building.

“That’s no place for courtrooms,” said Advocate Muhammad Asif, an associate of Hafeez. “There will be lawyers’ chambers built there.”

Hafeez told The Express Tribune that old bakhshi khana would be converted into chambers for advocates only if new courtrooms were constructed in front of the new bakhshi khana instead. He denied making any plans to occupy the building for his associates.

LBA president Shehzad Hassan Shaikh insisted that new courtrooms, not chambers, would be built at the site.

A few months ago, some lawyers fired guns in the air to dissuade a group of lawyers from attempting to construct chambers on a lawn in front of the old bakhshi khana. The management also stopped some lawyers from building their chambers in front of the courts complex.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2011.