PHC bar associations urge council to withdraw notices

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court bar associations of different regions have asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Br Council to withdraw notices issued to different bar associations, which had announced strikes without consent of the council.

A joint meeting of presidents and general secretaries of PHC bar associations of Peshawar, Abbottabad, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Mingora was held with the president of PHCBA, Peshawar, Rehmanullah Khan, in the chair to discuss different issues pertaining to recent decisions taken by KP Bar Council (KPBC).

The meeting was attended by presidents of PHCBA Abbottabad, Bannu and DI Khan named Mehdi Zaman Khan, Zahidul Haq and Malik Hidayatullah, respectively, and the secretary general of Mingora, DI Khan, Bannu and Peshawar associations named Rahimullah Chitrali, Muhammad Waqar Allam, Arifullah Khan and Muhammad Farooq Afridi, respectively.

The meeting demanded that KPBC to immediately withdraw notices issued to different bar associations.

The KPBC executive committee in its meeting on February 4 had declared that the bar associations were not authorised to announce strikes without the council’s approval. It had decided to issue show cause notices to presidents and general secretaries of those associations, which had violated the relevant rules in that regard.

The high court associations also called upon KPBC to immediately defreeze the bank accounts of PHCBA DI Khan and DI Khan District Bar Association. Through a resolution, the meeting said that observing strike in jurisdiction of a bar association should be prerogative of the said association.

Through another resolution, the meeting declared that KPBC had no right to interfere in the matters of bar associations. The meeting also said that KPBC should announce strike with pre-consent of at least three presidents of PHCBAs.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2023