The elected representatives of Islamabad Bar Council (IBC)-based lawyers disowned their 'non-elected' chairman - Advocate General Islamabad Mian Abdul Rauf - and demanded of the federal government to amend election laws for chairman. Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen, vice chairman IBC, and other elected members expressed reservations over the working of ex-officio chairman IBC advocate general Islamabad.
The IBC's resolution states: "Mian Abdul Rauf ex-officio chairman (IBC) is interfering in the statutory functions of the IBC although he has been advised to refrain from creating hurdles and act according to the law. Under the "Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973," the vice chairman heads the bar council and deals with all affairs related to financial, administrative, and disciplinary matters as well as issuance of licenses to lawyers through respective committees while the ex-officio chairman has a ceremonial role.
The resolution argues that, "a chairman should be from chosen representatives of the concerned bar council, therefore, the federal government is advised to introduce a bill for amendment in "Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973." Talking to Business Recorder, vice chairman Shaheen said that in May 2015 the lawyers of federal capital had elected their representatives to make the IBC functional but were unable to discharge this function as the non-elected representative of the federal government was not co-operating with the elected members. He added that in other bar councils the role of chairman is ceremonial. The IBC has therefore demanded that the federal government amends the law to end the practice of imposing non-elected representative in bar councils.
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