LAHORE, Dec 31: Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan has deferred the maiden meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council till Jan 22 as 16 of total 22 members of lawyers’ apex statutory body from all the four provinces made such a request through a resolution.

The attorney-general had earlier fixed Jan 3 as the date for the PBC’s first general council meeting to be held at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad for the election of the vice-chairperson and chairperson of the executive committee.

The AG, using his authority, relaxed Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1976, rules to defer the meeting after a majority of the members had made such a request. The rules stipulated the first PBC meeting should be held within one month of the official announcement of the results and issuance of a notification.

The PBC election was held across the country on Nov 19, and a notification pertaining to the new general council members was issued on Dec 5 after official count of vote.

The resolution was adopted by 13 members while another supported it through a separate letter to the attorney-general who is also the ex-officio chairperson of the PBC. Two more members, who have gone abroad, made a similar request before leaving the country.

The members adopting the resolution are, Hamid Khan, Mohammad Kazim Khan, Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf Wahla, Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry, Syed Qalb-i-Hasan and Mirza Aziz Akbar Baig from the Punjab, Rasheed A Razvi, Mohammad Yaseen Khan Azad, Imdad Ali Awan and Mohammad Yusuf Khan Leghari from Sindh, Abdur Rahim Kazi, besides Haji Syed Rahman from the NWFP and Ali Ahmad Kurd from Balochistan.

Later, Dr Khalid Ranjha also came out in support of the resolution. Qazi Mohammad Anwar from the NWFP and Abul Inaam from Sindh also made a similar request in writing to the attorney-general before leaving the country.

Senator Mohammad Lateef Khan Khosa, Mohammad Ahsan Bhoon, Raja Shafqat Abbasi and Mian Israrul Haq from Punjab and Abul Kalam from Sindh had, however, opposed the postponement of the meeting on the plea that the rules could not be relaxed for personal reasons.