ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Thursday, initiated disciplinary proceedings against 21 lawyers for their alleged involvement in storming the judicial compound, and issued notices to them.

A three-member larger bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez heard the complaint filed by the IHC Registrar.

During the hearing, the IHC Registrar placed before the court a report for initiating disciplinary proceedings against enrolled advocates under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act 1973 read with the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules, 1976, and the Islamabad Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules, 2017.

The bench observed in its order that the Pakistan Bar Council, the apex regulatory body of enrolled advocates, has strongly condemned the grave incident of 8th February, 2021.

It added that since enrolled advocates, all known to the respective Bars, were involved in storming the High Court and other grave acts of misconduct; therefore, before initiating disciplinary proceedings, this Court had brought the matter to the attention pursuant to the letters of the Pakistan Bar Council and the Islamabad Bar Council.

The bench further said that the confidence reposed by this Court in the respective regulatory Councils vide letter, dated 11.02.2021, has been responded to in consonance with the commitment of the Bar Councils to uphold the dignity of the profession.

The Pakistan Bar Council, in its letter dated 15.02.2021, has rightly highlighted the role of the legal fraternity in the context of the struggle for supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law.

Justice Minallah who authored the order stated, “A handful of enrolled Advocates have tarnished the image of the entire legal fraternity by taking the law into their own hands in an attempt to overpower the High Court and undermine its authority and sanctity, of which they themselves were the guardians. They have eclipsed the struggle of the legal fraternity for upholding the supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law and the dignity of the profession.”

“We record our appreciation for the resolve demonstrably displayed by the Pakistan Bar Council to weed out the handful of enrolled Advocates who have caused reputational damage to the entire legal fraternity, besides attempting to overpower the judicial organ established to uphold the fundamental rights of the citizens,” maintained the IHC chief justice.

He added, “It is noted that the alleged acts of misconduct relate to the storming of the Islamabad High Court on 8th of February, 2021 by a mob of enrolled Advocates. All of them are known to the respective Bars. The mob, after breaking open the main door of the Chief Justice’s Block, resorted to vandalising and desecrating public property. The acts of violence, vandalism and resort to hooliganism by enrolled Advocates in uniform amounted to grave misconduct. Later, the Chief Justice and Judges were held hostage for more than four hours.” He continued that the judicial proceedings remained suspended for the rest of the day. The litigants were deprived of their rights and thus dispensation of justice was disrupted. The mob of enrolled Advocates had obviously attempted to overpower the judicial organ of the State.

The IHC CJ stated that the above described acts or the aiding/facilitating thereof by enrolled Advocates, prima-facie, appears to fall within the definition of misconduct as provided under the Act of 1973 read with the rules made thereunder.

“By taking the law into their own hands, the enrolled Advocates have exposed themselves to disciplinary proceedings under the Act of 1973, read with the rules. The Pakistan Bar Council and the Islamabad Bar Council, while acknowledging the aforementioned incident, have suggested that references be sent by this Court for further disciplinary proceedings,” said Justice Minallah.

He noted that although it was a preliminary fixation of the matter today, yet the Presidents and office bearers of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association and the Islamabad District Bar Association, respectively, have appeared along with a large number of members of the Bar. They have all strongly condemned the incident and have shown their resolve to make those enrolled Advocates accountable who were involved in the storming of the High Court and other acts and/or the facilitation of grave misconduct.

He further said, “We acknowledge their declaration of commitment to upholding the dignity of the profession.”

He mentioned that the office, after careful scrutiny, has identified more than 150 enrolled Advocates alleged to have been involved in the incident.

He added, “However, at this stage we put to notice twenty one (21) enrolled Advocates who are alleged to have been involved in the incident. Since the enrolled Advocates who had actively taken part or had aided/facilitated the intolerable acts are known to them, we, therefore, expect that they would submit their names to the Registrar of this Court within three days, so that further exercise of identification is undertaken with the consultation of the Bar. This is crucial in order to ensure that no lawyer unconnected with the incident is inadvertently implicated.”

Then, the bench directed to send notices to the respondents through all modes.

Those who have been arrested are directed to be served through the Superintendent, Central Prison Adiala.

In addition to other modes, notices are directed to be sent to the Islamabad High Court Bar Association and the Islamabad District Bar Association for the purpose of being served on the respondents. The court issued notices to the lawyers including Naseer Ahmad Kayani, Tasadduq Hanif, Hammad Saeed Dar, Khalid Mehmood Khan, Ahsan Majeed Gujjar, Akhtar Hussain, Shaista Tabbasum, Asad Khan, Faiser Jadoon, Hafiz Malik Mazhar Javed, Khalid Taj, Naveed Hayat Malik, Nazia Abbasi, Nusrar Parveen, Zahid Mahmood Raja, Raja Amjad, Raja Khurram Farrukh, Younas Kayani, Muhammad Umar, Moin Bazai, and Pir Fida. The case was adjourned until February 25.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021