The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) (Urdu: پاکستان بار کونسل) was established by the Parliament in 1973 under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act.[1][2] It is the highest elected body of lawyers in Pakistan.

پاکستان بار کونسل
Pakistan Bar Council
Established1973; 51 years ago (1973)
TypeRegulating authority for lawyers
Public Body with elected officer bearers
HeadquartersIslamabad, Pakistan
Region served
 Pakistan
Official language
English, Urdu
AffiliationsMinistry of Law and Justice (Pakistan)
Websitepakistanbarcouncil.org
Supreme Court of Pakistan where the office of Pakistan Bar Council is situated.

It has twenty two members elected from across the country representing each province. The members of the Pakistan Bar Council are elected on the basis of a single transferable vote by the members of the Provincial Bar Councils (i.e., Punjab Bar Council, Sindh Bar Council, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, Balochistan Bar Council and Islamabad Bar Council).

Pakistan Bar Council is a regulating authority for lawyers in Pakistan and is one of the accredited councils by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.[3]

Composition

edit

The Pakistan Bar Council consists of Chairman Executive Committee, Vice Chairman and Members of Pakistan Bar Council elected by the Members of Provincial Bar Councils. Members serve a term of five years.[4]

Attorney General for Pakistan acts as ex officio Chairman of Pakistan Bar Council. Role of Attorney General is only to act as returning officer of Pakistan Bar Council elections and to publish the gazette. Attorney General does not exercise power in matters relating to functions of the Bar Council.

Electoral Officers

edit
  • Chairman Executive: The chairman of the executive committee is Chief Executive of Bar Council and is elected by the members of the Council in each year. Chairman Executive Committee has full authority to decide matters of Bar Council in every aspect.
  • Vice Chairman: Vice Chairman is figurehead of Bar Council and is elected by the members of the Council in January each year. Vice Chairman is ex officio Member of each Committee of Bar Council. However, the executive powers of Bar Council rest with Chairman Executive Committee.
  • Members of Pakistan Bar Council are elected after 4 years for a duration of 5 years by Elected Representatives of Lawyers of Pakistani Provincial Bar Councils.

Permanent Officer

edit
  • Secretary: A full-time employee of Grade 21, responsible to perform duties enshrined under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973. Subject to the provisions of the act and the rules, the secretary shall act under the supervisory control of the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council.

Function

edit
  • Only those advocates recognized by the Bar Council may represent clients in all the branches of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Pakistan Bar council is ..."responsible for safeguarding rights, interests and privileges of practicing lawyers, regulating their conduct and helping in the administration of justice".[4]

List of Elected Leaders

edit
Year Chairman Executive Vice Chairman
1993 Akram Sheikh Raja Haq Nawaz Khan
1994 G. M. Qureshi Muhammad Ashraf Wahlah
1995 Latif Khosa Abdus Samad Dogar
1996 Mushtaq A. Memon Hamid Khan (lawyer)
1997 Arif Hussain Khilji Javaid A. Khan
1998 Muhammad Ashraf Wahlah Muhammad Yousuf Leghari
1999 Muhammad Ashraf Wahlah Muhammad Yousuf Leghari
2000 Abdul Hakeem Khan H. Bijarani Ejaz Ahmed Rana
2001 Malik Rab Nawaz Noon Muhammad Naeem Goreja
2002 Abdul Haleem Pirzada Kadir Bakhsh Bhutto
2003 Muhammad Kazim Khan Abdul Rahim Kazi
2004 Qazi Muhammad Jamil H. Shakeel Ahmed
2005 Hamid Khan (lawyer) Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari
2006 Syed Qalb-i-Hassan Ali Ahmed Kurd
2007 Qazi Muhammad Anwar Mirza Aziz Akbar Baig
2008 Rasheed A. Razvi Haji Syed Rehman
2009 Muhammad Nasrullah Warraich Abu’l Inam
2010 Haji Syed Rehman Muhammad Kazim Khan
2011 Asrar-ul-Haq Mian Latif Afridi
2012 Burhan Moazzam Malik Akhtar Hussain
2013 Mian Abbas Ahmed Syed Qalb-i-Hassan
2014 Abrar Hasan Muhammad Ramzan Chaudhry
2015 Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon Azam Nazeer Tarar
2016 Abdul Fayaz Farogh Naseem
2017 Hafeez-ur-Rehman Chaudhry Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon
2018 Kamran Murtaza Ghulam Shabbir Shar Baloch
2019 Amjad Shah Hafiz Idris Sheikh
2020 Abid Saqi Sher Muhammad Khan
2021 Khush Dil Khan Muhammad Fahim Wali
2022 Masood Chishti Hafeez ul Rehman Chaudhry
2023 Hasan Raza Pasha Haroon ur Rashid
2024 Farooq H. Naek Riazat Ali Shar

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Nasir Iqbal (18 June 2019). "Pakistan Bar Council official calls for across-the-board accountability". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  2. ^ Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973 Retrieved 9 August 2021
  3. ^ Pakistan Bar Council is one of the councils accredited by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan Higher Education Commission of Pakistan website, Retrieved 9 August 2021
  4. ^ a b Nasir Iqbal (31 December 2020). "Pakistan Bar Council elections today". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 9 August 2021.
edit