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The
Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association Srinagar
is a voluntary association of practising Lawyers. The
office bearers of Association are elected every year
by way of a secret ballot and election is held by an
independent election commission, the chief election
commissioner takes charge of every task related to the
conduct of elections before a prescribed period from
the elections. The elections are conducted for the positions
of:
- Mr. M. A. Qayoom, Advocate, President
- Mr. Aijaz Bedar, Advocate, Vice-President
- Mr. G. N. Shaheen, Advocate, General Secretary
- Mr. F. A. Qureshi, Advocate, Joint Secretary
- Mr. Tanveer Ahmad Bhat, Advocate, Treasurer
Every
Member who is enrolled with the Association is entitled
to vote. Every member by way of a single non transferable
vote for each position participates in the election.
The elected members remain in the office for a period
of one year. For contesting the position of President
and Vice-president a member of the Association must
have a standing of 15 years as an advocate; for the
position of Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer
it is 7 years 2 years and 2 years respectively. The
elected body nominates an Executive Council for
carrying out the functions of Association and for decision
making. The Association also nominates an Advisory
Council for consultation over important issues
Membership
Any
Person who has completed LLB (Professional) from a recognized
university and is on rolls of Advocates Register maintained
by Jammu and Kashmir High Court can apply for the membership.
The aims and objectives
of the Bar Association are
§
to promote
the administration of justice;
§
to promote,
maintain and improve the interests and standards of
local practising Lawyers.
§
to arrange
and promote continuing professional development;
§
to promote
fair and honourable practice amongst Lawyers
§
to suppress,
discourage and prevent malpractice and professional
misconduct;
§
to encourage
professional, educational, and social relations amongst
the members of the Bar Association
§
to look
into the matters and concerns affecting the members
of Bar Association; and
§
to arrange
for the necessary infra structural facilities and welfare
measures including library requirements for the members
of Bar Association.
One
of the main aims of the Association, which has always
remained on its agenda, is to pursue and strive for
the solution of the dispute of Jammu and Kashmir according
to the aspirations of People of Jammu and Kashmir. The
Bar Association has been persistent in advocating the
people of Jammu & Kashmir as a prime party in any
sort of negotiations between India and Pakistan for
resolution of this dispute. For the past couple of decades
the Bar Association has been actively doing an intellectual
exercise by organizing seminars, conferences and debates
on different issues concerning the political happenings
in Jammu & Kashmir and by inviting the people for
these programmes from diverse organizations and groups.
The Association has a history, full of resistance, sacrifices
and struggle. Especially for the last 16 years, the
Association has shared every moment and every event
with the people of Jammu and Kashmir in fighting the
occupation both at Political, Diplomatic and at Human
Rights fronts. The Bar Association is guided by the
values of democracy, peace and justice and wants to
transcend the history of pain into building a future
of hope for coming generations. The Bar Association
has voluntarily accepted, and at times on its own played,
the role as mediator/conciliator to bridge the gap and
to facilitate dialogue among the different groups in
the greater interests of the people of Jammu and Kashmir
At
the Human Rights front the members of Bar Association
in their individual capacities and jointly in teams
has filed thousands of Habeas Corpus petitions for securing
the release of under trials and challenging the vices
of illegal detentions. The detenues are also being provided
the free legal services in the trial courts. Bar Association
has filed many petitions in the Honourable High Court
of Jammu and Kashmir in the form of Public Interest
Litigations (PIL) against illegal detentions, sending
the detenues to the jails outside the Jammu and Kashmir
and for allowing Bar members to visit the Jails to meet
the political detenues. A glimpse of sacrifices by Bar
members as Human Rights defenders can be had from the
reports of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
The Jammu
and Kashmir High Court Bar Association Srinagar
has a
distinction of being one of the oldest Bar Associations
of the Sub Continent. The
full-fledged High Court of Judicature for the Jammu
and Kashmir State was established in the year 1928.
Prior to this, the Ruler of the State (Maharaja) was
the final authority in the administration of justice.
In the year 1889, the British Government asked the then
Ruler of the State, Maharaja Partap Singh to appoint
a Council .The Judicial Member of the Council
exercised all the appellate powers both on civil and
criminal side. The State having two provinces - Jammu
and Kashmir, had chief judges exercising judicial authority
but they acted under the superintendence and control of
the Law Member of the Council. Later the Council
was abolished and a Minister designated as
Judge of the High Court was appointed by
the Ruler to decide judicial cases. In 1927 a new Constitution
was sanctioned by the then Ruler of the State and
instead of Law Member, a Ministry in the Judicial Department
was created. Thereafter, in 1928, by virtue of Order No. 1 dated 26.3.1928, the High
Court of Judicature was established and for the
first time the High Court was to consist of The
Chief Justice and two Judges. On March 26,1928, the
Maharaja appointed Lala Kanwar Sein as
the First Chief Justice of the Court and Rai Bahadur
Lala Bodh Raj Sawhney and Khan Sahib Aga Syed Hussain
as Puisne Judges. The usual places of sitting of the
High Court used to be Jammu and Srinagar.In 1939 the
Ruler promulgated the Constitution Act of Svt.
1996 which incorporated the provisions of law relating
to the High Court and conferred upon the High Court a
substantial measure of Independence. The High Court
was invested with powers of superintendence and control
over the Courts / District judiciary
Some
of the prominent Advocates/legal luminaries/Bar Presidents/High
Court Judges who have been associated with this Bar
Association are
§
Mr. Lok
Nath Sharma
§
Lala Sundri
Lal
§
M. Latief
Quershi
§
A.K.Malik
§
Mr. S.K.Chaku
§
Mirza
Muhammad Afzal Beigh
§
Mr. G.M.Wani
§
Mr. M.A.Nevhi
§
Mr. Amar
Nath Raina
§
Mr. O.N.Tikku
§
Mr. K.N.Koul
§
Mr. P.L.Handoo
§
Mr. Muzaffar
Hussain Beigh
§
Mr. Moti
Lal Bhat
§
Mr. Niranjan
Singh
§
Mr. H.S.oberio
§
Mr. Niranjan
Singh
§
Mr. Altaf
Ahmad
§
Mr. P.N.Dooda
§
Mr. G.N.Hagroo
§
Mr. Zaffar
A. Shah
§
Mr. M.A.Qayoom
§
Mr. Zaffar.
A.Quershi
§
Mr. Gh.Mohidin
Kara
§
Mr. Ragunath
Vishnvi
§
Mr. R.N.Koul
§
Mr. M.A.Rathore
§
Mr. N.A.Ronga
§
Mr. Bashir
.A. Khan( Judge High Court Delhi)
§
Mr. Bilal
Nazki (Judge High Court AP)
Some
of the members of Bar Association who were prominent
Human Rights Activists/Social Activists and laid their
lives for the cause of people:
§
Mr. Jaleel
Andrabi
§
Mr. A.Q
Salani
§
Mr. Sheikh
Mohmmad Hussain
§
Mr. Peer
Hassam u din
§
Mr..Abdul
Gani Bhat
§
Mr. Mohmmad
Sultan Bhat
The
Bar Association has remained active at various fronts
including philanthropic work, legal aid, political awareness
and the welfare of lawyer's community.
Some of the recent
Activities of the Bar
This
year (Aug 2004-May 2005) Bar filed a writ before the
Honourable High Court of Jammu and Kashmir for the directing
the Jail authorities to allow the members of Bar Association
to interact with political prisoners. The Bar Association
under the patronage of Mr Ajaz Bedar (Secretary) Ashraf
Thakur (joint secretary) and the President Mr. M.A.Qayoom
constituted teams for the purpose of visiting jails
to meet the detenues languishing in jails. The teams
after visiting the Jails in the Jammu and Kashmir and
outside and prepared reports, which were released to
media and disseminated among Rights Groups working at
local and international levels. The Bar Association
sent its teams for fact finding to Tekipora Kupwara,
Banihal as well as to the Handwara Payeen in inquiring
about the human Rights violations and the reports were
released to press.
A
Public interest Litigation was filed by the Bar Association
through its secretary viz a viz the arrest of an elderly
handicapped person namely Naik Muhammad Chichi who was
arrested after he was released on bail by 1st Additional
district Judge Srinagar . Bar Members in order to register
their protest and in solidarity to the victims of Human
Rights held several protests in the Lal Chowk Srinagar.
Various
teams were constituted under the patronage of Mr. M.
A. Qayoom and Vice President Mr. G. N. Dar in order
to show solidarity with the families of the victims
of Waltango Nar and Qazigund Kapran, who lost the life
and property by the heavy snowfall and avalanches. The
teams provided the relief in the form of cash to the
survivors and other affected persons of these areas.
The relief fund was collected by the Bar Executive from
the Advocates and their clerks in the High Court and
District Court Srinagar.
A
Blood Donation camp like previous years was organized
at Sadder Court Complex Srinagar in which the members
of Association actively participated.
This
year Bar Association received many delegations of human
Rights Groups, Diplomats and journalists. Some of the
High Profile Groups who visited the Bar include the
Delegation of European union (TRICA), SAFMA Delegation
of Pakistani journalists led by Mr Imtiyaz Alam, a well
known journalist of Pakistan, Representatives of different
Bar Associations of Azad Kashmir, Lawyers without Borders,
Diplomats from Canadian High Commission, Political Secretaries
from High Commission of UK and USA, a Judges from Azad
Kashmir, Representatives of Malaysian Bar Association
and some international Human rights organizations.
The
strength of members of Bar members is increasing day
by day and the demand for increasing infrastructural
needs has to be taken care of for smooth function and
comfort at work place. Keeping this in view the Bar
extended and updated the library run by Association
both at Sadder Court and the High Court. For Comfort
of members of Association two photo stat Centers one
each at High court and the Sadder court Complexes were
started this year. One fast food cafeteria and lunch
facility at Sadder Court was started for members.
The
Bar has had many meeting with the Honourable Chief Justice
Mr S.N.Jha, on various important issues
like the need for more space in High Court / District
Court premises, derooting the toutism and containing
the malpractices etc. As a result, a common retiring
room was constructed for lady lawyers. In order to curb
toutism and other malpractices, wearing of proper court
dress by the Advocates was strictly ensured. A dress
code was also established for the clerks of advocates.
For the construction of new District Court Complex Srinagar,
land was acquired by the authorities at Tengpora Batamaloo
(Srinagar) where the work is in progress. The Construction
of Lawyers' chambers at High Court have been approved
by concerned authorities and same will take off soon.
The EPABX facilities were installed both at high court
Bar offices as well as Saddar Court
This
Year Bar Association organized many programmes and conferences,
some of the important ones were Seerat Conference, Human
Rights Day, Jalil Andrabi's (Martyrdom) day. Debate
on Opening of Srinagar -Muzaffarbad road etc.
The
Bar Association is resolute to carry the good work in
future and will adhere to its moral and political stand
in principle.Home
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