ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) – the premier body that oversees the affairs of the legal fraternity – is looking to put its foot down and regulate the elections to lawyers’ bodies and associations throughout the country.

“Either the bar associations have to maintain discipline in their elections or face penal action,” PBC Vice Chairman Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry told Dawn.

To ensure the decision is implemented, he has written to the various vice chairmen and presidents of the provincial bar councils as well as high court and tehsil-level bar associations, calling attention to the blatant violation of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules of 1976 and the Pakistan Bar Council (Amended) Rules of 2013.

Lawyers move SC against restriction on bar politics

The letter reads: “It has been regretfully observed that for the forthcoming elections of the provincial bar councils, the candidates have started their campaigns, (soliciting) support of bar members through large panaflex banners, placards and posters hung or pasted on walls in and around court or bar premises and lawyers’ chambers, in sheer violation of the relevant rules.”

The amount of money now involved in the election campaigns of different lawyers’ bodies is mind-boggling. This has virtually pushed ordinary but otherwise successful lawyers to stay away from the elections, Mr Chaudhry said in his letter.

“After all, it is only the elections for the office of different lawyers’ bodies and not the local government or general elections,” the vice chairman regretted, maintaining that the hoardings, posters and stickers were an eyesore and defaced the court or bar premises since nobody bothered to take them down after the elections were over.

If this tendency is not checked, it will soon mean that only those with large purses would be able to bag the elections, he said.

A recent iftar dinner hosted by the Supreme Court Bar Association in honour of outgoing Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Supreme Court premises was disrupted when members of a high court bar association rushed in uninvited in large numbers to lobby for votes.

Mr Chaudhry stated in his letter that under the rules, a contesting candidate or his supporters could not canvass for votes through advertisements, banners, placards, stickers and posters. Even lunches or dinners hosted to directly or indirectly win over voters should be avoided, he said.

When asked what penalties could be handed out to those violating the rules, Mr Chaudhry said the PBC or the provincial bar council could reprimand the offending candidate or, in extreme cases, the candidate could be heavily fined, disqualified or have his licence to practise law suspended or cancelled.

It will be appreciated, he said in the letter, if the heads of bar councils and associations brought this to the notice of their members and remove publicity material including banners, placards, stickers, posters from their premises.

The vice chairman has also asked that a copy of the letter be displayed on the notice boards of the various bar associations.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2014