Eight Pakistan Bar Council members oppose proposed change to meeting requisition rule

ISLAMABAD: Eight members of the 23-member Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) have objected to a proposed amendment to Rule 87(c) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules, 1976, under which the number of members required to requisition a council meeting would be raised from five to 10.

In a representation submitted to the PBC, the members also asked the council’s Rules Committee to withdraw the proposed amendment immediately. They warned that if the change is not withdrawn, they may challenge it before a competent court of law.

The signatories to the one-page letter addressed to the PBC Rules Committee are former Supreme Court Bar Association president Abid Shahid Zuberi, Maqsood Buttar, Shafqat M. Chauhan, Munir A. Kakar, Abdul Sattar Khan, Salahuddin Ahmed, Salman Akram Raja and Qazi M. Arshad.

In their joint letter, the members said they had consistently stood for the rule of law, judicial independence, access to justice, and the original Constitution of Pakistan as it existed before the 26th and 27th Amendments.

Objections to proposed amendment

The letter said the objections were being raised in response to the PBC’s May 13 communication circulated in connection with the proposed amendment to Rule 87(c).

At the outset, the members strongly criticised the proposal introduced by the Rules Committee, saying it would double the number of members needed to call a meeting of the Bar Council. They said no justification had been shared with the existing members of the PBC for the proposed change.

According to the letter, both the amendment itself and the manner in which it was introduced were arbitrary and undemocratic. The members argued that the proposal would significantly restrict their ability to seek a council meeting.

“No reason whatsoever has been shared with the existing members of the PBC,” the members stated in the letter.

“It is glaringly obvious that the proposed amendment has been introduced with mala fide intentions to exclude the eight undersigned members from advocating for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, as the proposed amendment greatly limits the powers of the undersigned members to call for a meeting,” they added.

The signatories also maintained that the move was aimed at limiting independent voices within the Pakistan Bar Council, especially those who had been openly opposing the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments. They described the proposal as undemocratic and driven by malice.

Constitutional and democratic concerns

The letter also referred to parliamentary practice, saying that opposition members in both the National Assembly and the Senate retain the right to requisition meetings. The members argued that equal and fair representation of the opposition is a basic feature of any democratic forum.

“Therefore, it is evident that the proposed amendment is in clear violation of our fundamental rights enshrined under Articles 4, 8, 9, 14, 17, 19 and 25 of the Constitution,” the letter said on this point.

An informed source said the letter may be taken up by Raja Rizwan Abbasi, who headed the Rules Committee, during one of its meetings likely to be convened soon after Eidul Azha.

The proposed amendment concerns Rule 87(c) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules, 1976, and centres on the threshold required for members to requisition a meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council. The eight members have formally opposed the move and called for its withdrawal, while also indicating that legal proceedings may follow if the proposal is not reversed.