SBC announces strike against corruption in district courts

KARACHI: The Sindh Bar Council has announced to observe strike on May 5 against corruption in the district courts, lack of meaningful consultation with the bar for appointment of judicial officers, non-recommendation of senior judges of the Sindh High Court for elevation to the Supreme Court and contempt of court proceedings against lawyers.

Addressing a joint press conference at the Sindh Bar Council on Monday, the SBC Vice Chairman, Salahuddin Gandapur, SBC members Mehmoodul Hasan and Ms. Noor Naz Agha, said the representative bodies of the lawyers took several decisions in their Sindh bar representatives conference on April 21. The SBC office bearers expressed concern over the appointment criteria in the district judiciary and said the appointments are being made without meaningful consultation with the bar. They said fresh law graduates are being appointed as judicial officers, who lack requisite experience and demanded the appointment of judicial officers who have at least 3 to 5 years of bar practice experience.

The Sindh Bar Council said the litigants are being deprived of justice due to corruption in the district judiciary. The SBC office bearers said the complaints of the lawyers, against the district judiciary, to the member inspection team are either ignored or left undecided by the competent authority. They also criticized the contempt of court proceedings against lawyers and demanded that complaints should instead be taken up under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, or referred to the disciplinary committee. The Sindh Bar Council, demanded that the principle of seniority should be followed for elevation of high court judges to the Supreme Court in the light of Al-Jihad trust case. They also asked the judiciary to address the unnecessary delay in the pendency of cases.

The lawyers also expressed concern over the illegal detention and police highhandedness against lawyers in different parts of the province. They said the whereabouts of a district bar lawyer, Rehman Shah, who was picked by police and another law enforcement agency, are not known. Besides, the police have registered a false case against another lawyer Ghulam Murtaza Mahar at the instigation of influential builders in Model Colony. They demanded immediate recovery of Rehman Shah and arresting police officials involved in implicating Ghulam Murtaza in false cases.

They also announced that the Sindh Bar Council will hold a lawyers convention next month to discuss these issues and decide future line of action. They demanded resolution of all issues in light of the constitution and the Supreme Court judgments.