PESHAWAR: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Inamullah on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition seeking separate representation for lawyers from the merged districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.
The court ruled that the matter falls within the domain of government policy and legislation and that the judiciary cannot interfere in such issues. It observed that superior courts had consistently restrained judicial intervention in policy matters, emphasising that courts cannot direct the government to legislate on every issue.
The petition was filed by advocate Fawad Afzal Safi, who argued that lawyers from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were entitled to representation in the bar council proportionate to their numbers. He contended that a condition had been imposed requiring a bar association to have at least 100 registered members before becoming eligible for representation.
The petitioner pleaded that several district and tehsil bar associations in the merged districts now had more than 100 registered lawyers, yet they had not been granted separate representation in the bar council.
The lawyer argued that a bill aimed at addressing the issue had been introduced in the National Assembly, but no final decision had been taken on it. During the hearing, Justice Ijaz Anwar observed that many lawyers currently practice simultaneously in Peshawar, Mohmand, Khyber and other districts and were already casting votes in bar council elections. Therefore, he noted, they were already represented within the existing structure.
The judge further remarked that courts generally exercised restraint in matters relating to bar councils, as these were issues concerning the legal fraternity itself. He advised lawyers to pursue the resolution of such matters through the relevant bar institutions.
The petitioner argued that if separate seats were not allocated, lawyers from the merged districts would continue to be deprived of their legal right to representation.He maintained that Mohmand district’s seat had been adjusted in Peshawar, while seats relating to Khyber and other merged districts had similarly been allocated within settled districts. Therefore, he contended, separate seats for the merged districts were necessary to ensure fair representation in the bar council.After hearing arguments from both sides, the court dismissed the petition.
