CJ suspends licences of two lawyers

Legal community welcomes decision as victory of professionalism

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan has suspended the licences of two candidates elected as members of Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) after their degrees were proven fake.

The judge also restrained the authorities concerned from issuing the notification of the victory of Jameel Asghar Bhatti and Shahnawaz Ismaeel Gujar after Punjab University (PU) representatives' report about their degrees. CJ Qasim Khan declared that in light of a Supreme Court order, the lawyers who wished to contest elections for district and tehsil bar associations would have to submit their degrees before the vice chairman of the bar council for verification.

No nomination papers will be accepted until the degrees are verified, the CJ ordered.

The sessions judges concerned will get verified the degrees of candidates in areas where there is be no campus or head office of the university.

The PU representatives submitted a report about 15 candidates of the PbBC elections. The degrees of Syed Tahir Hussain Bukhari and Muhammad Hafeez were confirmed as fake.

The PU registered cases of unfair means cases against 13 candidates who had appeared in LLB examination but their record had been tampered with.

The lawyers' community welcomed the decision of the LHC. Hundreds of lawyers were present in and outside the courtroom. In a rare occurrence, they clapping after CJ Khan suspended the licences.

Chairman Executive Committee Pakistan Bar Council Azam Nazir Tarar said it was the victory of professionalism. Petitioner Gulzar Butt, an advocate of the Supreme Court, had approached the high court against the bar council for not scrutinising the degrees of thousands lawyers in light of an order issued on December 6, 2018 by the then chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2020.