MARDAN: The lawyers on Monday boycotted the courts and observed a strike against the district and sessions judge for ‘misguiding’ the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court that the legal fraternity of the district had agreed to the construction of the judicial complex near the new jail building.

The call for the strike was given by the district bar association.

Speaking to reporters, the bar’s president Islam Khan Wardag and general secretary Zar Bacha Khan said a few weeks ago, District and Sessions Judge Mardan Subhan Khan Sher had held a meeting with office-bearers of the bar association and some other senior lawyers over construction of the new judicial complex building.

They said the judge tried to convince them that the judicial complex should be built near the new jail building. However, they said the lawyers’ representatives rejected the government plan.

But, the lawyers’ leaders said, the DSJ sent minutes of the meeting to the PHC chief justice and ‘misguided’ him by giving the impression that legal fraternity of Mardan had agreed to the government’s plan to construct the building of judicial complex near the new jail. They said earlier there was a dispute between the provincial government and lawyers over location of the judicial complex building.

The lawyers wanted that the new judicial complex should be built on the old jail land, while the provincial government wanted it to be built near the new jail.

Later, they said bar members held meetings with provincial ministers and other relevant officials in that connection and got the issue resolved amicably.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2017