Defending the poor: SC shortlists 26 lawyers

Lawyers will act as ‘standing counsels’, their expenses will be borne by state

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has shortlisted the names of 26 lawyers that will take up the appeals of prisoners who cannot hire their own counsels.

A court official told The Express Tribune that the move is being made as part of the Supreme Court’s efforts to clear the backlog of criminal cases by the summer of 2015. The lawyers who will act as counsels for the prisoners will be known as ‘standing counsels’ and their expenses will be borne by the state.

The official pointed out that the SC office itself will maintain a separate file for every jail prisoner after seeking his or her record from the high court concerned. These documents will be called ‘jail petitions’. As many as 10 lawyers will perform their duties at the Supreme Court’s Islamabad registry, seven in Lahore, four in Karachi, three in Peshawar and two in Quetta.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2015.