The Punjab Bar Council ( ur, ) is a

deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure. Etymology In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the British Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became ...

of lawyers in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. It is established by

Parliament of Pakistan The Parliament of Pakistan ( ur, , , "Pakistan Advisory Council" or "Pakistan Consultative Assembly") is the federal and supreme legislative body of Pakistan. It is a bicameral federal legislature that consists of the Senate as the upper ...

and consists of 75 members elected from different constituencies of Punjab. Its main functions are to promote and suggest law reforms, to safeguard the rights, interests and privileges of practicing lawyers while regulating their conduct, to recognize or derecognize Bar associations and to help in the administration of justice. Punjab Bar Council also sends one of its Member to Judicial Commission of Pakistan, who gives advice and vote for the appointment of Lahore High Court Judges. The council is the largest Provincial Bar Council in Pakistan with more than 100,000 advocates as its License holders. All

Bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to se ...

s of

including Tehsil Bar Associations, District Bar Associations and High Court Bar Associations work under the Jurisdiction of Punjab Bar Council. Currently more than 124 Bar associations are working under Punjab Bar Council. The lawyers recognized by the Council can only represent clients in the all Branches of

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

, District Courts and Session Courts in Punjab, Pakistan. The Punjab Bar Council is based in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

, Pakistan, came into being as a result of the promulgation of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973 (Act XXXV of 1973). The Council commenced functioning with effect from 1 January 1974.

Composition

The Punjab Bar Council consists of 75 Members of Punjab Bar Council elected by the advocates from different constituencies across the Punjab Province, These Members serve a term of five years and further elect Chairman Executive Committee and Vice-Chairman of Council each Year. The Advocate General of the

, acts as ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

'' Chairman but being non-elected does not exercise the power as do the elected positions in the council. Power of Advocate General of Punjab is only limited to his role as returning officer of elections and in publishing the gazette. The composition of the bar council for 2021-2025 term has been retained by the Independent Lawyers Group.

Chairman Executive, Punjab Bar Council

The Chairman Executive Committee is practically the most powerful office 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. under the Punjab Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules, 1974, the Chairman of Executive Committee exercise the powers (a) to implement the decisions of Bar Council (b) to advise the Bar Council in all matters relating to its functions (c) to supervise and deal with the all matters regarding administration of the Bar Council (d) to constitute sub-committee and to entrust such of its functions thereto as may be necessary (e) to institute and defend other proceedings on the behalf of Bar Council (f) to perform such functions as the Bar Council may entrust to it.

Vice Chairman, Punjab Bar Council

Vice Chairman is

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...

of Bar Council and Elected by the members of the Council in January each year. VC plays the role of

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

and is traditionally considered as holding the foremost elected position in the bar council. Under the Punjab Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Rules 1974, Vice Chairman is ''

'' Member of each Committee of Bar Council. Executive powers of the council are however rest with the Chairman of Executive Committee.

Secretary, Punjab Bar Council

secretary is an officer of Grade 21. He is non-elected and full-time semi-government employee, responsible to perform duties enshrined under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, and the Punjab Legal Practitioners & Bar Council Rules, 1974 and to deal with the administrative affairs. secretary works under the supervisory control of the

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of Punjab Bar Council.

List of Elected Leaders

Member Judicial Commission of Pakistan

* Punjab Bar Council (through majority decision) sends one of its Member to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan for a period of 2 years, He gives his opinion and vote for the appointments of

Judges and for the appointment of the Chief Justice of High Court.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bar Councils in Pakistan Pakistani lawyers Organisations based in Punjab, Pakistan 1974 establishments in Pakistan Organizations established in 1974