RAHIM YAR KHAN: The District Bar Association (DBA), under the Friends Group, had allegedly constructed 93 substandard multi-storey chambers for lawyers and illegally gave their possession to blue-eyed members of their group after a defeat in the bar election on Saturday night.

The allegation was leveled by the newly-elected DBA president Roy Mazhar Hussain Kharal, while addressing a press conference here on Monday. DBA former president Hassan Mustafa has denied the allegations.

Accompanied by bar general secretary Ghulam Ghaus Korai, Farooq Warind, Zafar Tareen and MG Rabbani, Mr Kharal said the former DBA cabinet, led by Hassan Mustafa, had pledged construction of 93 new chambers for 300 chamberless lawyers on a sharing basis after allotment through a draw.

M Kharal said the former DBA body had collected Rs30m from the lawyers during its tenure and hired an unregistered contractor, Farukh Cheema, without floating tenders and the contractor started the complex of 93 chambers without laying foundation of the building.

He added that substandard construction was in progress when the Friends Group, after losing the election, reached the three-storey building and gave possession of 93 chambers to its favourite lawyers. He said the former president had also allotted a chamber to a lawyer Wajesh Kumar, a member of the Sindh Bar Council belonging to Hyderabad.

The new president of the DBA said that the senior leaders of his Greater Alliance Wuqala Ittehad Group told the deputy commissioner, district police officer and the district and sessions judge about the malpractice on Saturday night but no action was taken by them.

On Jan 12, he submitted a petition before the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) about this illegal activity and the council issued a letter on Monday, saying that contention raised by the petitioner needed consideration. It said the notices be issued to Hassan Mustafa, ex-president of the DBA, and all the lawyers concerned who had illegally occupied the chambers in question for filing written reply to the petition and making their personal appearance before the committee on Jan 18.

Mr Mustafa has been directed to appear in person along with all the relevant record. The allotments made by the former regime of the DBA have been canceled and termed null and void as they were made without fair and transparent process of balloting. The sitting executive committee of DBA has been directed to get possession of all the newly-constructed chambers from the illegal occupants and appear along with all the relevant record on the said date.

When contacted, DBA former president Hassan Mustafa said he had allotted the chambers to 186 lawyers of both the groups on Dec 15, 2019 while only 22 lawyers remained deprived of the chambers because they already had their chambers in the district courts. He said the actual dispute between Friends Group and Greater Alliance Wuqala Ittehad Group was allotment of 21 chambers of the ground floor where they could get only eight chambers. He said the PbBC had issued directions of cancellation of chambers allotment without hearing the stance of his group.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2020