ISLAMABAD: A senior member of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has asked the top regulatory body to ensure quota in law colleges for differently abled people, minorities and transgender people.

In a letter, Advocate Raheel Kamran Sheikh reminded members of the PBC that while framing the Pakistan Bar Council Legal Education Rules, 2015, and proposing amendments, the council had completely overlooked the fact that there was a dire need to make access to legal education more diverse and inclusive for the marginalised segments of society.

For this purpose, he said, the council should consider introducing quotas in law college admissions, both in public and private sectors, for persons with disabilities (PWDs), minorities and transgender.

“Currently, a large number of people belonging to these segments of society are being deprived of higher education altogether, and even where they are enrolled, access and other facilities offered are not adequate to meet their physical and social needs,” the letter highlighted.

“Affirmative action in this regard is not only the regulatory responsibility of the highest body like PBC, but it is also essential for the enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution.”

In this regard, Advocate Sheikh proposed a fixed quota system for PWDs, minorities and transgender in different law colleges. In addition, the council should ask law colleges to plan budget allocation for financial assistance of deserving students falling in these categories, besides directing them to make ramps and provide accessible space and washrooms for PWDs.

Different law colleges should also be asked to periodically submit information about students enrolled on quota basis to respective bar councils in the provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) with copies to the PBC.

Secondly, the bar council should also demand both the federal and provincial governments that they must endeavour to publish for sale adequate number of copies of all laws in Braille format as well to make the same universally accessible.

Thirdly, a demand should also be made from the Higher Education Comm­ission (HEC) and the education ministries/departments of the federal and provincial governments to introduce the subject of human rights as a mandatory subject in all colleges for higher secondary school syllabus.

The member expressed the hope that these proposals would be considered seriously and placed in the next meeting of the council for appropriate action. “We have a responsibility towards our coming generations to make this country and society a place more worthy of living than what we inherited,” the member highlighted.

On Oct 2, the Supreme Court had asked the four provincial governments to explore the possibility of facilitating visually impaired persons by furnishing replies in Braille format along with documents they submit for court assistance.

The issue had cropped up when a three-judge Sup­reme Court bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial had taken up a case relating to rights of the disabled people in Pakistan.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) for Punjab Chaudhry Faisal Hussain had also highlighted the possibility of submission of reports in Braille format for the benefit of people with disability.

Earlier on April 26 this year, the AAG had written a letter to the former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa with a request to consider allowing them to furnish documents or applications before the Supreme Court in Braille format.

Currently there is no provision under the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, to accept any documents or applications in Braille format, which sometimes creates an impediment to the physically challenged persons.

The issue of disability first came to the attention of the Supreme Court in May 2014 when Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, being the chief justice, had asked the federal and provincial governments to answer a number of questions.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2019