22 July 2004	Thursday	04 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, July 21: Pir Syed Masood Ahmad Chishti was appointed the new vice-chairperson of the Punjab Bar Council on Wednesday.

His appointment came upon a notification issued by PBC vice-chairperson Chaudhry Tanvirur Rahman Randhawa. Mr Chishti replaces Pervez Inayat Malik, who handed over his resignation to advocate-general Syed Shabbar Raza Razvi two days ago.

The change in the office has come as part of an agreement between two lawyer groups, headed by Senator Latif Khan Khosa and Chaudhry Ashraf Wahla. They had reportedly agreed in January this year that Mr Khosa's nominee Pervez Inayat Malik would head the PBC's executive committee for the first six months and Mr Wahla's nominee Mr Chishti for the next six months. The tenure of Mr Malik ended on July 15.

The group supporting Mr Chishti says his appointment through a notification was authorized by a resolution that the bar council adopted to empower the vice-chairperson to do so.

However, some other groups disagree to this interpretation of the resolution, saying it could not be used to fill a vacancy which could only be done by elections. They wonder how could the advocate-general agree to such an arrangement after refusing to abide by a Pakistan Bar Council resolution to hold the Punjab bar's elections after it amended the rules under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act.