PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court Bar Association has practically taken on the character of the revenue generating entity by charging litigants a fee for parking vehicles on the Sher Shah Suri Road and narrow plot along the railway track outside the court.

The association unofficially authorises a contractor to charge visitors for vehicle parking on both sides of the road. The contractor has deputed collectors, who charges Rs60 for car, the highest rate in Peshawar, and Rs20 for motorbike.

The revenue goes to the account of the bar association. The contractor has deputed 14 people, who issue tickets to visitors for parking vehicles.

A collector said he issued 30-40 tickets daily.

Members of the bar association and government officials, who park vehicles along the road, do not pay the fee, while litigants are charged the amount.

Motorists complain of traffic jams, officials insist they’re helpless

A portion of the lane of the Mufti Mahmood Flyover passing in front of the high court and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly building is also used as a car parking facility.

In addition, lawyers have been using premises of the tourism department and prison department adjacent to the high court building as the parking lot without paying fee.

Ownership of the Sher Shah Suri Road, which serves as one of the main arteries in the city, lies with the Cantonment Board, Peshawar. The conversion of both sides of the road into a parking lot results in frequent traffic jams to the inconvenience of motorists.

The provincial government had constructed the Mufti Mahmood Flyover with a total budget of Rs1.7 billion to prevent traffic mess on the Sher Shah Suri Road. Traffic congestion has further increased since the lawyers occupied the road.

When asked, officials of the traffic police, cantonment board and Peshawar Development Authority, which built the flyover and carries out maintenance work, say they are helpless as they can’t confront the lawyer community.

“This is no parking area, but who will challenge lawyers to stop them from parking their cars,” said a traffic warden performing duty in front of the high court building on Friday.

He said the court should take notice of illegal parking on the road which had become a constant headache for the police and motorists.

The cantonment board’s officials expressed helplessness to stop lawyers from collecting parking fee from visitors.

An official at the CBP’s Rent Branch said the matter had been brought to the notice of the board’s legal advisor, but he was reluctant to confront the bar association.

He said the board did not authorise the association or contractor to charge parking fee in front of the High Court.

The bar association general secretary, Abid advocate, admitted that the revenue generated by the parking lot went to the lawyers’ body.

He said the government did not give financial grant to the bar association to meet its expenses, so the parking fee was the only source of income for it.

“The government neither provides parking facility to the lawyers and visitors nor does it give financial grant to the association to bear expenditure,” he said while justifying the collection of parking fee from visitors.

Mr Abid said the association’s annual expenditure totalled around Rs15 million, including salaries of 20 employees, while the federal government gave Rs1 million only in the current year, which was peanut.

He added the administration had banned parking on the court’s premises due to security reasons forcing lawyers to leave their vehicles alongside the road.

The association leader said lawyers of the subordinate courts had the same issue due to the unavailability of parking space.

He said the government should develop a parking facility to resolve the issue.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2020