LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Monday directed the attorney general of Pakistan, who is ex-officio chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), to get degrees of the lawyers contesting election of the top regulatory body of the lawyers.

Hearing a petition for the verification of the degrees of the candidates, the chief justice observed that he did not want to delay the process for the election of the PBC.

Therefore, he directed the attorney general to collect the degrees from the candidates within 48 hours and get them verified from the relevant institutions.

Earlier, Deputy Attorney General Asad Ali Bajwa questioned maintainability of the petition and argued that the high court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter as the candidates belonged to other provinces as well.

The CJ observed it appeared that the federation was trying to protect the lawyers having fake degrees.

Shafqat Mahmood Chohan, on behalf of the petitioner, also said the government should endorse the demand for the verification of the degrees instead of opposing it. The petitioner contended that the election for the PBC was going to be held on Dec 31 but verification of the candidates had not been conducted.

Therefore, he asked the court to order verification of the degrees of the lawyers contesting the PBC election.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020