Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJ) Gulzar Ahmed on Saturday advised all the bar councils to properly guide and help the newly-enrolled lawyers so that they could start their career in a better way.
While addressing a seminar held in Lahore under the aegis of the Punjab Bar Council on Saturday, CJ Gulzar Ahmed said that the bar councils should collect the data of the chambers and should be aware of the needs of the chambers, adding that they should help and guide newly enrolled lawyers make their careers better.
“When the bar councils enroll the lawyers and as they come out of the bar councils, they don’t know where to go and what to do. Those who have some connections find their way but all those individuals who do not know someone and don’t know where to go or how to start their careers face serious situations,” the CJ remarked while addressing the seminar on the role of the lawyers and judiciary to improve the judicial system.
CJ Gulzar Ahmed made it clear that the courts were free and would be free to dispense justice.
“The courts don’t have certain trends. They are free and will be free to make decisions independently. But there is no space for fighting over decisions, because the appellate forums are there to file an appeal if the lawyers think that a certain decision is wrong,” the CJ said.
The seminar was held a week after a bunch of lawyers entered into the courtroom of a consumer court judge in Mandi Bahauddin district and misbehaved with him after he convicted a deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner of the said district for committing contempt of court in a case.
The video of the lawyers misbehaving with the judge had gone viral on social media, badly damaging the impression of the lawyers in the eyes of the public.
CJ Gulzar Ahmed said they would encourage criticism of the court’s decisions, and reiterated that there was no space for fighting on these decisions.
The chief justice suggested that a committee should be formed which should call the newly enrolled lawyers and ask them about their future plans. He added that if they were unable to convey their aspirations clearly, the councils should help them find any chamber or guide them on how he could start their career.
He also said that the bar councils could work with the collaboration of the bar associations.
CJ Gulzar Ahmed appreciated Punjab Bar Council for working in this direction and also appreciated the opinions of the lawyers.
He said that PBC was taking up the issue seriously, adding that the problems of the litigants and the courts were addressed when the problems of the lawyers were addressed.
He further encouraged the PBC and asked it to continue making improvements in this direction, pointing out that the bars and the bench could never be adversaries.
Giving the example of a house, the chief justice said that both the judges and lawyers belong to it. He appreciated the lawyers for making a promise once again to protect that house.
“The judges and lawyers share the same place, so how can they be adversaries and fight,” said CJ Gulzar Ahmed.
He also said, “The lawyers win and lose their cases and if they think that a decision is wrong, they have the right to appeal against that decision. There is a system to deal with the cases. The courts exist for this purpose.”
The CJ said that the SC was the final forum to decide the matters and when a decision came, then there was no space for a fight.
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti also addressed the seminar and expressed similar views. He said that if the lawyers thought that a certain decision was wrong, they had the right to appeal before the appellate forum against that decision.
