Practitioners, Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill: Senate body passes significant amendments

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice, unanimously, passed significant amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2025, aimed at strengthening the credibility, transparency, and operational timelines of bar councils across Pakistan.

The parliamentary panel met with Farooq Hamid Naek in the chair, here on Thursday.

After a detailed clause-by-clause review, the committee, unanimously, approved the bill with amendments. Under the new provisions, the elections for Bar Councils will now mandatorily be held on the first Saturday of November, and in no case beyond the second Saturday of November. This change institutionalises predictability and uniformity in the electoral process across all provincial and federal bar councils.

The bill also introduces stricter eligibility requirements for candidates contesting Bar Council elections. After a thorough discussion between 7 and 10 years it was decided that a candidate must be enrolled as an advocate of the High Court for not less than 10 years. The candidate must have successfully handled at least 30 individual cases.

Disqualification of membership will be upon individuals convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, or sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more (unless released at least five years ago), will be disqualified from contesting.

Another major development under the amendment is the allocation of Bar Council seats for the newly-merged districts into the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These seats will be included in the group of districts as specified under Sub-Section (2)(b) of Section 5 of the Act, ensuring their rightful representation.

Bar Councils play a pivotal role in upholding constitutional supremacy, the rule of law, and the independence of the judiciary. Therefore, it is imperative to introduce a robust and transparent mechanism to ensure that only candidates with the requisite expertise and experience hold office in these prestigious bodies.

According to statement of objects and reasons of the bill the Bar Councils play a pivotal role in upholding constitutional supremacy, the rule of law, and the independence of the judiciary. Therefore, it would be judicious to introduce a robust mechanism and transparent requirements for becoming office holders of Bar Councils. These amendments would ensure that candidates possess the requisite expertise and experience to fulfill these critical responsibilities effectively. In addition, this amendment provides the share of seats for newly-merged districts into the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as prescribed in the group of Districts given in the Schedule made under Sub-Section (2)(b) of Section 5 of the Act. Other constitutional amendment bills on the agenda were deferred.

The meeting was also attended by senators, Syed Ali Zafar, Ahad Khan Cheema, Abdul Qadir, and Khalil Tahir. Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar, along with chairmen of various Bar Councils and other key legal stakeholders, were also present.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025