ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice-Chairman Rasheed A. Razvi has said the Supreme Court has always allowed army generals to continue, for indefinite period, with the authority to amend the Constitution in case of successful revolutions.

He was speaking in a ceremony held at the start of judicial year 2004-05 of the apex court at the Supreme Court building on Monday. He conceded, however, that the apex court had also upheld conviction of several military personnel guilty of an offence to overthrow civilian governments.

Frequent military take overs and dismissal of civilian governments have not only derailed democratic process but also destroyed civil fabric of our society, he deplored.

Mr Rizvi also referred to a period during 1980s when army brigadiers were sharing bench with the judges of the high court, and quoted from the memoirs of former chief justice Ajmal Mian, "A Judge Speaks Out," in which he had observed that after judgment in Sheikh Liaquat Hussain case, he thought that the scope of military dictatorship had ended.

"My Lords, let our energies and all strength for the coming year be diverted to make all the institutions stronger and to restore a true civil society in Pakistan before it is too late," he observed.

Referring to an attempt to amend the Constitution to limit the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to three years, he alleged that the attempt was clearly against independence of judiciary. As observed by Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, such interference leads to "establishing a rat race," he said.

It also amounts to bringing the superior judiciary under influence of the political government, he said and warned that such amendments would be opposed vigorously. "There appears no reason or justification for introducing such amendments except that the present government, which is headed by a general, intends to keep the highest judicial office under its influence and manipulation," he said.

"The entire legal fraternity and the people with good conscience are united to defeat all such moves aimed to tamper with independence of the judiciary," he said. He also referred to the fact that two judges of the Lahore High Court were still not confirmed, adding that this was again a deviation from the rule laid down by a full bench of the Supreme Court.

President Supreme Court Bar Association Justice (retired) Tariq Mahmood said the bar was considering a proposal for imposing cost for frivolous litigation, but said the courts should decide the matter instead of simply disposing it of.

He suggested that the government should be requested to improve the situation of service tribunals, the inefficiency of which, he said, was burdening the Supreme Court in the shape of load of service matters.