SC to take up plea for setting up of new LHC benches.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court will take up on Tuesday an appeal against the registrar office's decision of not accepting a petition seeking establishment of new benches of the Lahore High Court in major cities of Punjab.

A two-judge SC bench consisting of Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan will commence hearing of the appeal on Oct 22.

The appeal was moved by a senior member of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Raheel Kamran Sheikh, for establishment of new benches of the LHC in cities, like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sargodha and Sahiwal.

On Feb 20, Justice Bandial in a chambers' hearing had overruled the registrar office's decision taken on the basis that the petitioner did not approach any other appropriate forum available to him under the law and also had failed to justify for directly approaching the apex court.

The issue of additional benches also echoed in a Senate standing committee meeting earlier this year

The issue of setting up additional benches of the LHC also echoed in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Parliamentary Affairs on April 29. Presided over by Senator Javed Abbasi, the meeting had discussed a constitutional amendment bill.

The bill sought to address problems faced by both litigants and lawyers who want cost-effective and early disposal of cases for which high courts' benches are required in more cities. The bill noted that establishment of more benches of a particular high court was provided in Article 198(4) of the Constitution as the governor might determine on the advice of the cabinet in consultation with the chief justice of that high court.

Lawyers' protests

PBC member Sheikh moved the petition before the Supreme Court against the backdrop of last year's protests by the lawyers' community that lasted over a month.

The petition had sought immediate intervention for the resolution of persistent boycott of courts by lawyers in cities like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sargodha and Sahiwal.

Different district bar associations observed strikes and members of the legal fraternity did not appear in the courts of their respective divisions which had badly affected the judicial process in those cities.

Some elements in the bar had even resorted to violent protests when their demand for establishing new benches was...