LAHORE: A tussle between lawyers and the Lahore High Court (LHC) administration flared up on Wednesday after the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) president exchanged harsh words with Justice Erum Sajjad Gull for deferring a case without hearing as he turned up late. The LHCBA protested against Justice Gull, accusing her of misbehaving with the bar president and demanded to stop her from judicial work.As per details, the judge, who was hearing urgent cases, put off the hearing of a case due to non-appearance of lawyer. Meanwhile, LHCBA president Pir Masood Chishti entered the courtroom and addressed the judge. He insisted the court to fix next date of hearing instead of re-listing the case. The judge, however, remarked that she already had re-listed the case and could not take up the matter again. She asked Chishti to leave the rostrum so that the counsel for the next case could plead his case but he didn’t, which led to exchange of harsh words between him and the judge. At this, the judge left the courtroom and went into her retiring room. Afterwards, Chishti with a group of lawyers took round of all the courtrooms and ensured boycott of the court proceedings at the LHC.A delegation of senior lawyers also called on Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as Chief Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik was not available for being in Islamabad to attend meeting of National Justice (Policy making) Committee. The delegation included Chishti, Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Azam Nazir Tarar, Lahore Bar Association president Ishtiaq A Khan, former LBA president Mansoor-ur-Rehman Khan Afridi, and former LHCBA presidents Asghar Ali Gill and Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari. However, they were not able to break the deadlock. Chishti claimed their demand had been accepted and Justice Gull would not conduct court work on Thursday. In case she did, he said, the lawyers would observe complete boycott of courts. The LBA president also showed solidarity with the LHCBA and announced to boycott courts, if so required.Chishti also called an emergency meeting of bar’s general house and passed condemnation resolution against the judge. The general house constituted a committee comprising former presidents to investigate the matter and unanimously resolved that all the lawyers would continue boycotting the court proceedings of Justice Gull. Talking to media, Chishti said they would continue their protest till ouster of Justice Gull or sending her to the LHC benches in Multan, Bahawalpur or Rawalpindi.Addressing the general house meeting, LHCBA secretary Ahmed Qayyum said the bar regularly received complaints about the judges misbehaving with lawyers but Justice Gull’s attitude was ‘extremely improper’ and ‘indecent’. She insulted the lawyers’ mandate given to their president, he added. Sayed Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari said he was present in the courtroom when the incident took place, adding that Chishti had requested the judge to fix date for the re-listed matter but she got infuriated and remarked that the president was pressurising her. Azam Nazir Tarar said lawyers respected the judges and expected same from them, adding that they would not remain silent over insult of any lawyer by judges.Meanwhile, LHC administration is of the view that the issue will be taken up after the chief justice’s arrival on Thursday (today). They did not confirm whether Justice Gull would conduct judicial work on Thursday. The cause list pertaining to Justice Gull’s court is available on the LHC website and it does not stand cancelled. She was appointed as LHC additional judge on June 8 this year for a period of one year. A decision regarding her confirmation or extension would be taken by judicial commission after the expiry of one-year time. Presently, three female judges are working at the LHC with Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Aalia Neelam the other two.
