SCBA for suspension of SC proceedings for 2 weeks

Lawyers’ body chief to once again request CJ in view of provincial lockdowns

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has decided to once again request Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed on Tuesday (today) to suspend all the apex court proceedings for a couple of weeks.
Talking to The Express Tribune, SCBA President Syed Qalb-i-Hassan said he is receiving calls from lawyers from all over the country to request the CJ for suspending all SC proceedings due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
“These lawyers say it is not possible for them now to attend the court proceedings in Islamabad due to Sindh and Punjab governments’ announcement to impose a lockdown in the two provinces. In view of their concerns, I will take up this matter with the chief justice today (Tuesday),” he said.
The SCBA president wondered why the SC lawyers, majority of whom are above 50-year-old, are being asked to attend the court proceedings when the apex court staff of the similar age group have been advised to work from home in view of the pandemic.
Punjab Additional Advocate General Chaudhry Faisal Hussain also urged all four chief justices of provincial high courts to consider closing district and high courts for a few weeks so that they might be sanitized. “It's a pandemic. Please be cautious,” he said in a statement.
The Supreme Court has already decided to hear only essential cases amid the increasing novel coronavirus cases in the country. Taking preventive measures against the disease, the top court has advised its staff members over 50 years of age to work from home.
The female staff has also been advised to stay at home.
Three benches in the principal seat in Islamabad and the Karachi and Lahore registries are still hearing cases. However, a statement issued on Saturday said: “All other cases have been delisted.”
The National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) – an administrative body of superior court judges –decided on March 19 that courts would remain open at all levels by reducing the judicial workload so that people working in courts or visiting them were not exposed to COVID-19.
The NJPMC had also urged people not to unnecessarily visit court premises unless specifically required by any court. CJ Gulzar Ahmed, who heads the committee, had made it clear that “we will not compromise on our judicial system and not let it be derailed by getting panicked as the people of Pakistan have a great deal of confidence in the judicial system so we will never disappoint them.”
SC judge Ijazul Ahsan, who is also chairman of the Supreme Court Health and Safety Committee, had been nominated as the focal judge responsible to ensure the implementation of the NJPMC directions.
The meeting had resolved that the protocol of health and hygiene would be ensured and adopted at courts. It said eth high courts and district courts would also reduce work by hearing only urgent matters and discouraging the entry of the general public.