Sessions court: 24 judges seek transfer away from ‘abusive’ lawyers

Say abuse and intimidation by lawyers has made their jobs impossible.

LAHORE:

Twenty four additional district and sessions judges have written to the Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar seeking a transfer out of the city because, they say, they are sick of being abused, threatened and beaten up by lawyers.

Sources told The Express Tribune that District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed had learnt of the letter from LHC Registrar Sohail Nasir and later called an emergency meeting to convince the judges to stay, but the matter had not been resolved yet. They are to meet again in a few days.

The letter was signed by ADSJs Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad, Khizar Hayat Sial, Mohammad Qasim, Mohammad Saeedullah Mughal, Mohammad Shiraz Kayani, Azizullah, Tariq Mehmood Zargham, Pervaiz Iqbal Sipra, Chaudhry Munir Ahmad, Mahrukh Aziz Tarar, Abdus Sattar Langah, Mohammad Javidul Hassan Chishti, Naveed Ahmad, Abul Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain Chaudhry, Shahida Saeed, Aurangzeb Chaudhry, Mohammad Ejaz Butt, Hamid Hussain, Anjum Raza Syed, Rana Zahid Iqbal, Mohammad Tahir Khan Niazi, Mohammad Nadeem Shoukat, Mohammad Arif Hameed Sheikh and Mohammad Ramzan.

The judges accused the lawyers who appear before them of seeking to win their cases at all costs regardless of morality and ethics. “Some lawyers also use physical force for the purpose,” they said.

The judges wrote in the letter that some lawyers had beaten up judges who ruled against them. Some lawyers routinely tore up judicial orders that they did not like in the courtroom. They said that the lawyers’ behaviour was making it impossible for them to do their jobs, so they should be transferred.

Sources said that Judge Mustaqeem Ahmed had met the judges in his chamber for about an hour and heard their concerns. He had tried to convince them to withdraw the application, but they had refused.

Ahmed told The Express Tribune that another meeting would be held in a few days. He said that no judge would be transferred, unless they had “genuine problems”. He said that the meeting would discuss the setting up of an independent committee that would investigate reports of clashes between judges and lawyers and then recommend penalties, for the former or the latter. “They are here to provide justice to the needy masses, rather than fight with each other,” he said, adding that the matter would also be discussed with the LHC registrar.

Talking to The Express Tribune, some ADSJs said that judges were abused and threatened by lawyers every day in the Sessions Court. They said some lawyers were telling clients that they had judges in their pockets and would get the desired verdict for a fee. “When the judges decide cases on merit, the lawyers start abusing them,” they said.

They said ADSJ Rana Zahid Iqbal was recently abused by a lawyer in his courtroom. A group of lawyers had later tried to assault him, but he was saved by his staff, they said. They said that Judges Husnain Qadir Ghillon, Ejaz Butt and Sheraz Kayani had been abused and mistreated by lawyers in recent days.

Lahore Bar Association president Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ahmed rejected the judges’ claims, saying they could not give a single concrete example of a lawyer mistreating a judge. He said that he would meet with the LHC chief justice to discuss the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.