Illegal construction: Notices issued to lawyers for occupying lawns

20 Model Town courts lawyers get show cause notices for constructing chambers on lawns.

LAHORE: Lahore Bar Association (LBA) on Monday issued show cause notices to around 20 lawyers for illegally constructing chambers on the lawns of Model Town courts.

The lawyers include Muhammad Shehzad, Khursheed Shani, Saleem Bhatti, Rafaqat Ali, Rao Asim, Rana Tahir and Saqib Bhullar. They have been directed to vacate the lawns immediately.

Requesting anonymity, an LBA cabinet member told The Express Tribune that the lawyers had been directed to remove construction material and the debris. “Otherwise, the matter will be brought to general house and their LBA memberships will be suspended. The matter will also be taken up with the Punjab Bar Council,” he said.

“LBA leaders were not taken into confidence by LBA Model Town vice president Zameer Ahmed Jhedu before allotting the chambers. The regrettable decision was his own,” he said.

“LBA representatives held a meeting with District and Sessions Judge Tariq Iftikhar Ahmad on Monday over the issue. The judge expressed his displeasure over the illegal construction. He informed LBA representatives that the Lahore High Court (LHC), too, was also annoyed at the situation. The possibility of shifting the Model Town Courts to the district and sessions courts complex in case the matter was not resolved also came under discussion,” he said.

At the Model Town courts, a third group of lawyers emerged on Monday. It sought to occupy the verandah between the lawn and the courts. Its members placed bricks to demarcate boundaries for their chambers on the verandah. However, Jhedu stopped them from proceeding with the construction.

Earlier, two groups occupied parts of two lawns.

The first group had constructed 21 chambers and dug a 15-foot long and five feet deep trench to prevent a crane or bulldozer from approaching the chambers.

The construction had started on Friday night at 8pm. Jhedu claimed that he had issued allotment letters to 21 lawyers to construct the chambers with the consent of the LBA executive.

Several lawyers then occupied the second lawn and started construction there.

LBA president Chaudhry Ishtiaq said that LBA was not taken into confidence in the matter. “We have issued notices to some lawyers. The rest will also be served notices to vacate the chambers,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2014.