ISLAMABAD, Aug 26: The elections of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) will be held in the first week of October. PBC Secretary Mohammad Arshad said the council’s ex officio chairman Makhdoom Ali Khan, who is also Attorney General of Pakistan, would announce the final schedule of the elections being held after a period of five years.

The secretary said Mr Arshad would also be the returning officer.

He said the Senate had passed amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act-1973, but the same were yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

Mr Khan said the Punjab Bar Council would elect 11 members of the Pakistan Bar Council, followed by Sindh Bar Council (six members), NWFP Bar Council (two members) and Balochistan Bar Council (one member).

He said the new Pakistan Bar Council would elect its vice- chairman, who would be replaced by the council every year. Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan will be given vice-chairmanship once during the five-year tenure of the council, while the Punjab will have the post twice, he added.

The council, under its charter, will safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates, besides taking measures for fair and inexpensive dispensation of justice by the subordinate courts and tribunals. It will also promote and suggest law reforms.

According to rules, the council will be required to constitute a number of committees after its election, including a disciplinary committee comprising a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, who shall be its chairman, and four other members elected by the council from among its members. The attorney general, who is ex officio chairman of the council, shall not be a member of the disciplinary committee.

The council will also form an executive committee comprising seven members elected by it from among its members.

It will also constitute an enrolment committee comprising a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the CJP who will be its chairman and two other members elected by the council from among its members. This committee takes up cases of advocates of the high courts who apply for registration as advocate of the Supreme Court.—APP