Legal action: Bar councils served notices against strikes

The petition comes at a time when the bench and bar are already suffering from strained ties.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices to the Sindh Bar Council (SBC), the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA), the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the Malir District Bar Association (MBDA) on Tuesday on a petition requesting to restrain these lawyers’ representative bodies from calling strikes and boycotting legal proceedings.

The petition has been filed at a time when the bench and the bar are already suffering from strained ties after the latter called for a province-wide strike and boycotted legal proceedings over what it termed as insulting remarks by the SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam. Vakil Ahmed Qureshi, who is a senior lawyer of the high court, approached the court against the four lawyers’ representative bodies for calling frequent strikes of lawyers and boycotting legal proceedings.



In his plea, Qureshi argued that the calls for strikes and boycott of the legal proceedings by the lawyers’ regulatory and representative bodies were ‘unconstitutional and illegal’ as they caused unnecessary delays in case hearings and paralysed the judicial system. The litigants and the suspects could not avail remedy from courts as a result, he added. This amounted to depriving the lawyers and their clients from the timely dispensation of justice. “It is also against the professional freedom and integrity of the lawyers,” contended Qureshi.

The petitioner questioned if the bar councils and bar associations had forgotten the purposes behind establishing the bar councils and bar associations. He alleged that the litigants and the judicial system were suffering badly because of these actions.

The petitioner pleaded to the court to restrain the bar council and bar associations from giving calls for strike and boycotts in the future. He also requested that the lawyers’ regulatory bodies should be restrained from taking any action against those lawyers who appear in courts to plead their cases during such strikes.

Headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, the bench, after the initial hearing, issued notice to the SBC, SHCBA, KBA and MDBA for July 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2013.

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Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2013.