RAWALPINDI, Jan 17: Lawyers sitting in the district courts encounter innumerable problems such as lack of security, limited resources, inadequate space, rubbish heaps, tout mafia, parking of vehicles, poor construction of chambers and the role of district administration, a Dawn survey revealed.

Lawyers are faced with immense problems, Advocate Amir Mateen lamented. People are under the impression that law is a profession of lords, but the fact is we don’t even have proper place to sit, except in the bar and even that is inadequate for such a large number of lawyers, added Shahid Mehmood and Malik Asif Karim.

Insecurity is another problem. The courts have a number of entrances, which are not properly manned and therefore easy for the accused involved in heinous crimes, to flee from the court.

Government spends large sums of money on hiring buildings for banking, drugs and central courts. If the government builds a complex in the district court it can save thousands of rupees and besides there is space available in the court premises for such a project, disclosed Advocate Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman.

Majority of the lawyers complained about the tout mafia, who blackmail and misguide the people and extort money from them. No one dare question them or stop them, and lawyers demanded stringent steps to deal with this mafia.

Advocate Fauzia Aslam and other female lawyers demanded separate chambers for themselves and disclosed that space in the family court was not enough and they find it difficult to enter the court when they come for hearing.

Constructing a chamber in the district court is also a problem for the lawyers. It often happens that a lawyer gets the permission from the RBA to construct his chamber. When the chamber is built, the district administration interferes and ransacks it resulting in the loss of money for the poor lawyer, who is still in the process of setting up his practice and are therefore found sitting on benches or in kiosks.

There is insufficient space available for car parking in the district courts, with the little available space reserved for senior and aged barristers.

A few months back lawyers were disallowed from parking their cars in the premises of district courts and were instead asked to use Jinnah Park across the road to park their vehicles.

Garbage heaps are seen lying all over district courts, causing health problems for the common men. They are bound to pass these areas while going to different courts for hearing. Sweepers are rare commodities here.