Security concerns: LBA likely to stop parking of vehicles inside court premises

Only judges will be allowed to park their vehicles on court premises.

LAHORE: The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) is likely to issue notices to its memebrs on Monday (today) banning parking on the District and Sessions Court premises. Only cars belonging to the judges will be allowed to be parked inside the court complex. 

Also, an LBA delegation will meet the LHC CJ this week to propose shifting of illegal parking stand in front of the Aiwan-i-Adl to the Evacuee Trust property nearby.

The Sessions Court parking prohibition comes in the wake of a prisoner being gunned down by another in the judicial lockup. The building is owned by the district administration but the LBA is informally in charge of its security and facilities including parking.

An LBA delegation met District and Sessions Judge Nazir Ahmed Ganjana and Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Naeem, formally in charge of security, on Sunday.

The delegation proposed the ban on parking of vehicles belonging to lawyers, police and litigants, an LBA member who attended the meeting later told The Express Tribune. One of the judges said that the ban might lead to arguments between lawyers and the police deputed at court gates. The LBA delegation suggested strengthening the police guard at the gates. The LBA officials also offered to stand at the gates to persuade the lawyers to respect the new rule. Later, talking to The Tribune, LBA President Chaudhry Zulifqar Ali said that strict action will be taken against lawyers or police officials found parking their vehicles on the court premises.

“It is not a matter merely of parking. It is a matter of security,” he said.

LBA General Secretary Asad Zaidi seconded him.

Some lawyers, however, said that it was routine for the LBA to announce bans that lawyers never respected.

They said that the LBA should take other measures to stop violence on the court premises rather than advocating such bans.

“None of the unfortunate incidents of violence involved any lawyer’s or official’s vehicle,” one of them said.

Police officials deputed at the gates too feared that the ban might increase incidents of violent arguments between police officials and lawyers.

Aiwan-i-Adl  

An LBA delegation will meet LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial next week to seek removal of illegal parking stands next to the Aiwan-i-Adl.

LBA President Chaudhry Zulifqar Ali told The Express Tribune that the LBA execution had earlier met with Justice Bandial for the purpose. He said the matter had been pending and needed to be resolved ‘on priority basis’.

An LBA delegation had earlier met former LHC chief justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed with the request that the parking stand be removed to the Post Master General’s office yard. They are now proposing that the parking stand be shifted on to the Evacuee Trust property next to Aiwan-i-Adl.

LBA leaders say the illegal parking stand is a security hazard. It also causes problems for traffic on the road in front of the Aiwan-i-Adl. They say hundreds of vehicles are parked here every day and cannot be checked. There have been several terrorist attacks as a result in which lives were lost.

The five-row parking, including one for motorcycles on the sidewalk, occupies most of the Lower Mall. Moreover, due to encroaching roadside stalls, traffic jams on the road get worse during court timings.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2012.