1553/2012 Suit ABDUL SATTAR MANDOKHEL (Plaintiff) V/S ADMINISTRATOR (CDGK) (Defendant)
Sindh High Court
Bench: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Nazar Akbar
Order Date: 06-SEP-17
Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act (XXXV of 1973)-- ----Preamble---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 10-A---Non-appearing of counsel---Code of Conduct, violation of---Scope---Responsibility of Institutions/departments engaging counsel---Scope---Non-attending the court by the counsel amounted to breach of the Code of Conduct of Counsel towards client---Court issued notices to non-appearing counsel through Provincial Bar Council purpose, being to ensure that Bar Council be aware of the conduct of its members---High Court observed that in number of cases, despite orders of the Court no action had been taken by the institutions like City Development Authority and Municipal Corporation against delinquent counsel---Such conduct of the counsel in most of the cases could not be considered as an oversight or mistake rather, to say the least, their wilful absence facilitated the Court in passing adverse order against their clients---When huge public money was involved, court, in absence of counsel was to be more careful---Different counsel, in the present case, had filed power of attorney on behalf of the institution but they have appeared hardly on five dates out of more than twenty dates of hearing---Not only in the present case, but in many other cases, High Court had reported the matter of such conduct of counsel to the Provincial Bar Council for action---Such absence of counsel was not only violation of conduct of lawyers provided under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973 but it was also against the constitutional guarantee for fair trial envisaged under Art.10-A of the Constitution---High Court further observed that court alone could not guarantee "fair trial" and for quality judgment from the court, the litigant and counsel both had to honestly contribute---High Court issued notice to the Principal Law Officer of the Institution for next date of hearing with complete report of cases decided for or against the Institution since 1-1-2017 till date along with reports from the audit and accounts department that how much public money had been utilized by the Institution in litigation in the name of professional fee of counsel and other miscellaneous expenses---All that was necessary to check the possibility of collusion of legal department of the Institution and the counsel and the litigants who sue the Institution or other semi government institutions for recovery of money---Copy of the present order was directed by High Court to be sent to Head of the Institution so that any remedial measures could be taken by them---Case was adjourned accordingly.Full judgment text for this case is not yet available on Pakistan Law Reports. Check the official Sindh High Court case law portal for the complete order.
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