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| 15 May 2004 | Saturday | 24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
112 judges and magistrates quit in Lahore
LAHORE, May 14: The ongoing bench-bar conflict took a new turn on Friday when the 112 members of the subordinate judiciary resigned from their offices against what they called lawyers' 'high-handedness'.
The judges took the extreme step following a clash between police and lawyers who had ventured to storm the office of Judge Mohammad Khalil Chaudhry and damaged his official car. They also ransacked the offices of the clerk of courts.
The clashes left 19 lawyers, including Lahore Bar Association president Mirza Haneef Baig and joint secretary Nadeem Ansari, injured.
While police used batons and fired teargas shells, the emotionally-charged lawyers replied with brickbats.
Seven policemen, including the SHO of Islampura police, Chaudhry Ashraf Chaddhar, were injured.
This was the first time in the legal history of the country that the entire administration of subordinate judiciary in a major city like Lahore collapsed and the provincial capital was left without any lower tier of the judiciary.
The resignations of as many as 27 additional district and sessions judges, 48 civil judges and 37 judicial magistrates were announced by additional sessions judge Abid Husain Sheikh, senior civil judge Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah and the Judicial Association secretary Mohammad Azam Saroya outside the chamber of district and sessions judge Mohammad Khalil Chaudhry.
They told a gathering outside the district and sessions judge's chamber that lawyers had caused the working conditions to deteriorate to a degree that carrying on judicial work had become impossible.
This was the second day of a stand-off between lawyers and the district judge. Chances of any improvement in the situation appear to be remote in view of an announcement made by the Lahore Bar Association that it would set up a camp inside the sessions court on Saturday to protest against the 'behaviour' of the district and sessions judge. The lawyers are demanding his transfer.
Another factor which seems to have added to the already tense atmosphere was an attempt by lawyers to get a case registered against the judge.
INQUIRY: The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry, who is understood to be deeply concerned over the untoward incidents, is said to have decided to intervene to broker a reconciliation.
He is learnt to have instituted an inquiry into the matter. The committee has presidents of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association as its members. A judge of the Lahore High Court is said to be heading the committee which also includes the LHC registrar.
While the lawyers are seeking to get a case registered against the district and sessions judge, the latter has so far avoided involving police in the matter.
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