LAHORE, May 2: The Lahore High Court administration is creating hurdles in the arrangements being made for welcoming Chief Justice Ifitkhar Muhammad Chaudhry on May 5, alleges a meeting of representatives of various lawyers’ bodies, political parties, and organizations of students, labours and civil society.

Held at the Punjab Bar Council office here on Wednesday, the meeting’s participants alleged the LHC administration was not only refusing to allow the use of court lawns for holding the ceremony, but it was also trying to prevent judges from attending the event.

They urged that all the judges like their counterparts in other provinces should attend the reception being arranged by the Lahore High Court Bar Association.

The meeting condemned the government for suspending food and drinks supplies arranged by the PBC for the lawyers who had assembled in Islamabad on Wednesday. It also slammed torture of lawyers by police, besides the “unjustified” arrests of political activists.

The meeting decided that all political parties and organizations would warmly welcome Justice Chaudhry on his arrival in the city on May 5 and he would be brought to the reception venue in a procession.

Various organizations will set up reception camps on the route of the procession, besides arranging food and water for the participants.

It was decided that only lawyers would enter the LHC premises while other participants would assemble on The Mall to maintain discipline and decorum.

Big TV screens and sound systems would be installed to show live proceedings of the reception to the people assembling on The Mall.