LAHORE, Feb 20: Assistant Advocate-General Salma Malik and 50 other lawyers on Wednesday withdrew a resolution moved by them for a reference by the LHC Bar Association against Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif of the Lahore High Court.
LHCBA president Chaudhry Muzzammil Khan and secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti met the judge in his chamber on Wednesday morning. AAG Salma Malik was also called and assured that she would have full opportunity to plead her cases.
Afghan lawyers: A delegation of women lawyers from Afghanistan on Wednesday appreciated the arrangements made by the Lahore High Court Bar Association to enable its members to discharge their professional obligations.
The delegation was taken round the various halls, library, reading rooms, study, lounge and women’s Bar room. Welcoming the delegation, LHCBA president Chaudhry Muzzammil Khan extended it all help to thoroughly study the legal and social framework available to Pakistani women for gainful employment and participation in public life.
LHCBA secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti said under the constitution, women enjoyed all economic and political rights in Pakistan in keeping with the tenets of Islam. They could aspire for the highest office. However, there were certain discriminatory laws, customs and practices that would have to be scrapped to ensure true equality.
Khawar Ikram Bhatti and Chaudhry Tanveer Mahmood, the association’s vice-president and finance secretary, respectively, emphasized the need of more exchanges between Pakistan and Afghanistan in every walk of life.
BODY SOUGHT: A writ petition moved in the Lahore High Court on Wednesday seeks the constitution of an administrative committee consisting of seven senior-most judges to run its affairs to the satisfaction of lawyers and litigants.
The committee should function at the LHC principal seat regularly so that collective wisdom of the court is reflected in its administrative decisions, which are not amenable to judicial scrutiny, Advocate MD Tahir said in his petition. Important cases, he said, should be evenly assigned to all judges in accordance with their seniority, experience in a particular field and aptitude.
The petitioner also called for adherence to the rule of seniority in elevation of high court judges to the Supreme Court in the interest of smooth functioning of the superior judiciary.