SHC moved against restriction on lawyers’ appearance at courts during bar strikes

Two lawyers have filed a lawsuit in the Sindh High Court against a restriction on lawyers’ appearance before courts during strike calls given by representatives of bar councils and associations.

Mohammad Ali Lakhani and Mujtaba Sohail Raja submitted that bar councils and associations were agitating against a decision of the national judicial policy making committee that applications under Section 22-A of the CrPC would not be entertained by the district courts unless accompanied by a decision of the relevant district SP (complaint).

They said that lawyers’ bodies had decided to boycott court proceedings for the acceptance of their demands, and to make the strike calls successful, the lawyers’ representatives were restraining the lawyers from appearing before the courts.

They submitted that actions of the bar councils and associations in attempting to restrain the plaintiffs and other advocates from entering the courtrooms and attending hearings of their cases were illegal and motivated by political considerations.

The court was requested to declare that the lawyers were entitled to practise their profession and appear before the courts by exercising their right to disagree and distance themselves from any strike call. The SHC was also asked to direct its registrar to make appropriate arrangements to ensure that advocates were not restrained from entering the premises of courts during strike calls given by the bar councils and associations.