Three former SC judges’ licences will be revoked by PBC.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the highest authority of the nation’s attorneys, has voted to withdraw the licences of three Supreme Court judges and to forbid family members of judges of the higher courts from practising law in their home jurisdictions.

Following their retirement, the names of the three former judges—including the previous chief justice—were reinstated on the Supreme Court’s “Roll of the Advocates.” The Supreme Court judges are prohibited by law from engaging in legal practise, but they are licenced to engage in other legal services, such as arbitration and consultation.

There were two views in PBC enrolment committee regarding the restoration of the licences. Previously, committee then led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, declined former chief justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali’s plea for the restoration of his name on the ‘Roll of the Advocates’.

It is learnt that a recently retired judge had submitted a plea before the PBC enrolment committee, now headed by the senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, regarding the restoration of his licence.

However, because of the conflicting views on the matter, the enrolment committee referred the plea to the PBC General House. The General House, in a meeting on Wednesday, not only dismissed the plea but also decided to issue show-cause notice to three retired judges for revoking their licences, too.

The house discussed a number of agenda issues. It also decided to outlaw the superior court judges’ families practising at their residences. By a majority vote, the house chose Hasan Raza Pasha to lead the Executive Committee and Haroonur Rasheed to serve as vice chairman.

Munir Ahmed Khan Kakar objected during the session, stating that although the PBC was a representation of the Federation, no nominations from Sindh and Balochistan had been submitted for the previous three years.

Six members of the Professional Lawyers Group, also known as the Hamid Khan Group, released a statement in which they claimed that they staged a walkout from the house in protest of this “biassed” treatment.

“This gravely undermines the idea of federation and heightens the sense of injustice among Sindhi and Baloch lawyers. Following this, we the undersigned PBC members left in protest of this unfair treatment, according to the statement.

The PBC, which is composed of Supreme Court attorneys, also denounced the detention of Fawad Chaudhry, a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). “We consider it a right of every citizen to be treated in accordance with the law and the constitution. We further demand that he be immediately exonerated of these false accusations,” it added.