The full court of the Lahore High Court on Monday ruled out the demand for establishing additional benches in five divisions of Punjab and deferred the matter of increasing judges’ strength for further deliberation.
The full court, headed by Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and attended by 46 judges, had reserved the verdict after three-day long deliberation on the matter at the principal seat. The court held in-camera proceedings.
The full court held that the demand for new additional benches of the LHC could not be acceded to. The court also responded to Punjab governor’s letter written on March 18, 2013.
The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) meanwhile welcomed the decision of the full court. Office-bearers of the bar said it was a big decision and the whole legal community should follow it.
“It is full court decision and they have unanimously decided it, so it should be accepted and followed,” said Rana Zia Abdur Rehman, the president of LHC Bar Association.
Rehman said that lawyers had genuine demand for new benches and they also had the right to protest. “I represent lawyers’ community but I say that it is the decision of 47 judges and it should be implemented,” he added.
The legal fraternity had demanded the authorities concerned to establish additional benches in five divisions of Punjab ie, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Okara and DG Khan.
Military dictator Ziaul Haq had in 1981 created the three permanent benches of the LHC to facilitate citizens to have easy access to justice. However, senior lawyers believe that the motive of the dictator’s move was to break lawyers’ unity in Lahore that always opposed martial law activities.
