Illegal constructions: Chambers will not be built on court premises, says LBA

LBA president says talks underway to get alternative land for chambers at Model Town Courts.

LAHORE: Lawyers will not be allowed to construct chambers on court premises, Lahore Bar Association (LBA) president Chaudhry Ishtiaq Khan said on Sunday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said he had held several meetings with District Coordination Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Usman and asked for an alternative place near Model Town Courts for construction of chambers.

Earlier, a delegation of lawyers met Khan and moved a requisition against the planned construction of chambers on the parking area reserved for judges at Model Town Courts.

They said that several lawyers had written their names on walls in the parking area.

They informed the LBA president that several lawyers, who did not practice in the Model Town Courts, had been allocated chambers there. They demanded that these chambers be demolished.

They requested the LBA to intervene in the matter and stop lawyers from constructing chambers in the parking area. Khan said that the reservations of the delegation would be addressed.

On December 27, a group of lawyers had occupied the lawns at Model Town Courts and constructed more than 40 chambers there.

A second group of lawyers had tried to occupy the pavement between the old judicial complex and the lawns. However, the chambers were removed. Khan had claimed that then LBA Model Town vice president Zameer Ahmed Jhedu had taken the decision to construct the chambers on his own.

The LBA had announced it would take stern action against the lawyers who were constructing chambers illegally. However, no such step has been taken.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2015.