Bar against bench: Bar council opposes top court’s decision

Objects to review of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act 1976.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to examine the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act 1976. 

PBC vice chairman Muhammad Ramzan Chaudhry, while talking to newsmen on Friday, strongly objected to the two-judge bench’s decision to examine the bar council act’s sections related to lawyers’ code of conduct for regulating discipline.

“Judges should also regulate their own code of conduct first as they should not be humiliating lawyers and others during the hearings,” he added.

PBC vice chairman observed that judges should refrain from giving remarks during the proceedings, as they should speak through their judgments rather than observations. He also urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to make the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) effective because its meeting has not been held since 2010.

“If the complaints against the judges of superior courts are pending then they should be disposed of immediately. Everyone wants that the outcome of the SJC should be made public,” he added.

Chaudhry said that judges of the subordinate judiciary should be appointed by the Public Service Commission — like it was done in the past.

He stated that at present, high courts are appointing subordinate court judges but unfortunately, allegations of nepotism are being levelled against these appointments. “Judiciary should restore the old procedure of judges’ appointment in lower courts.”

He said the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) should be reconstituted and the representation of the lawyers should be increased.

He urged the CJP to decide the superior bars’ petitions against the 18th amendment especially the present process of judges’ appointment and special meeting of the commission should also be summoned for the amendment of JCP’s 2010 rules.

Vice chairman of the apex body of lawyers has also refused to follow the decisions of National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC), saying that it has no legal backing and lawyers are not bound to implement its decisions.

“There is no representation of the lawyers in the committee as it is the body of chief justices of superior courts. We have no objection over its functioning but we are not bound to follow its decisions”, he further said.

He also observed that the National Judicial Policy 2009 has failed to redress people’s grievances as backlog is increasing by the day and corruption is also on the rise in lower judiciary.