ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: Two groups of lawyers remained determined on Monday to fight out a legal battle for the seat of president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in the Supreme Court, ignoring an appeal by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to settle the dispute.

An 11-judge bench of the Supreme Court, before retiring for tea break, had requested the two groups to settle the issue among themselves.

In a courtroom packed with lawyers, the bench was hearing an appeal of Muneer A. Malik against assumption of the office of the SCBA president by his rival Raja Haq Nawaz following Nov 8 orders of the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.

After a delay of a couple of days in the announcement of the election result, Mr Malik was declared successful but former SCBA president Malik Mohammad Qayyum as returning officer announced success of Mr Nawaz in a re-count on Nov 6. The announcement was accepted by the Lahore High Court in its interim order.

Allegations of hosting dinners and canvassing for candidates by members responsible for holding the elections were levelled, forcing the petitioner’s counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, to say that the only way to settle the controversy would be cross-examination.

"We are all part of this family and we will never encourage members of such an august body fighting each other," the chief justice observed.

The election commission could be asked for recount if the controversy revolved only around vote counts, he suggested.

"We daily decide cases without bothering about its results but here it would be proper if efforts should be made to heal the wounds," the chief justice observed.

"I believe that the SCBA has now been fragmented and Herculean efforts would be needed to bring it back," Advocate Pirzada said, adding that a fragmented bar always affected the bench.

He cited a recent article written by I.A. Rehman in which the writer had asked whether the army should be called to hold SCBA elections and emphasised that the Oct 31 poll had been vitiated by non-observance of rules governing the association’s affairs.

Mr Pirzada asked the court to interpret the rules and decide what was legal or direct the Pakistan Bar Council to decide the pending appeal in a week.

Under relevant rules, the association’s elections were always conducted by a committee of five senior lawyers having a standing of 15 years each but in the instant case no such committee had been constituted, the counsel argued. He said the elections had been held by the former SCBA president in his capacity as the returning officer (RO).

Justice Javed Iqbal asked whether the powers exercised by RO were ever conferred on him.

Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani observed that institutions developed by following rules and not through compromises. He said the bar associations should be a role model for other institutions.