ISLAMABAD: The regulatory authority for lawyers in the federal capital, the Islamabad Bar Council (IBC), has decided to start verifying the educational qualifications of the 3,700 lawyers in the capital.

These lawyers practice in the capital’s sessions courts, special courts, tribunals and at Islamabad High Court (IHC).

In the past, the Punjab Bar Council served as a regulatory authority for Islamabad-based lawyers. After the establishment of the IHC, in 2012, Islamabad Bar Association President Syed Javed Akbar initiated a process for verifying the degrees of lawyers but could not complete this task during his one-year term in office.

Mr Akbar told Dawn that it was an old demand by professional lawyers, that the degrees of those practicing in the field be verified.

“I thought the task of verifying educational credentials could be completed in three or four months. However, I started the process in September 2012 and by January 2013, I had only managed to collect 1,000 degrees from 3,700 lawyers,” he said.

He claimed that there was pressure from certain groups who did not want him to open this ‘Pandora’s box’.

The process is aimed at identifying ‘fake’ lawyers

“And despite my best efforts, I could not complete the task of verifying the degrees held by the lawyers. I had hoped that my successors would complete the job but they did not,” he said.

According to some lawyers, fake degree holders play a role during the elections of bar associations so a number of lawyers do not want the process of verification to be started.

However, the incumbent body of the IBC expressed hope that since its five years tenure would end in 2020 they could complete the task of verifying degrees.

A senior member of IBC told Dawn that the fake degree holders are depriving professional lawyers of their legitimate rights.

“In addition to taking away potential clients, fake lawyers also manage to get legal posts such as standing counsels, deputy attorney general and prosecutors,” he said.

To illustrate the seriousness of the issue, one only needs to consider the case of a standing counsel who served in Islamabad in 2008-2009 and was appointed additional prosecutor general of Punjab before it was found out that his legal qualifications were fake.

However, his appointment was taken away after he lost a case, alleging him of holding a fake degree.

IBC Vice Chairman Shuaib Shaheen told Dawn that unlike bar associations, the bar council is a statutory body, which enjoys authority of initiating proceedings or revoking the licenses of lawyers.

He said that the degrees verification process would be started in the current month.

According to him, the lawyers would be asked to verify their educational credentials from the educational institutions, where they had studied and to submit attested copies of their educational degrees to the IBC.

“The IBC would forward these degrees to the educational institutions and to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for re-verification,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play