PESHAWAR, March 4: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Raza Khan said on Tuesday that the lawyers’ boycott of the superior courts amounted to professional misconduct.

He said that under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act it was a misconduct not to appear before the court after taking fee from a client.

“We have initiated the process for filling the four vacant posts of judges in the high court and the elevation will be strictly in accordance with legal standings of those considered for the posts,” Justice Raza Khan told journalists during his visit to the NWFP Law and Parliamentary Affairs department.

The chief justice dispelled the impression that they had been considering names of those lawyers who had not boycotted the superior courts for appointment as judges. “Those who have been appearing before the court have not been violating any provision of law,” he said.

About the establishment of circuit benches of the high court in Bannu and Malakand region, Justice Raza Khan said that the provincial cabinet and governor had approved last year the establishment of the circuit benches. However, he added, the summary was sent to the federal government as they required funds for functioning of those benches and they were still awaiting that approval.

The chief justice said that although the number of pending cases was on the rise, they had been trying their level best to keep pace with the institution of fresh cases. “The record of cases we disposed of in February was much better then those decided in February last year,” he said.

He declined to comment when a reporter asked him about the efforts for restoration of deposed judges of the superior courts. Regarding the FIR registered against 15 lawyers on Feb 7, he said that the said FIR had yet not been withdrawn.

Earlier, the chief justice went though different sections of the department. Caretaker Minister for Law Justice (retired) Mian Muhammad Ajmal, PHC Registrar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Chief Secretary Sahibzada Riaz Noor and Law Secretary Shahid Naseem Khan accompanied him.