ISLAMABAD:
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has ruled that strikes called by bar associations and bar councils are not only illegal but also violate a litigant’s constitutional right of access to justice, holding that such actions deprive citizens of legal representation and further burden an already strained judicial system.
In a detailed 20-page judgment authored by Justice Aamer Farooq, the FCC upheld a Peshawar High Court (PHC) ruling that restored the practice licences of two lawyers.
The court observed that lawyers’ strikes amount to a denial of access to justice and cannot be justified, regardless of the cause behind them. “The practice of calling strikes by Bar Associations or Bar Councils is common in the sub-continent. This practice is not only illegal but also in violation of the right of access to justice of a litigant and his counsel,” noted Justice Aamer Farooq while hearing Peshawar High Court Bar Association against PHC order wherein practice license of two lawyers was restored.
The ruling observed that when a strike call is made, the lawyer bodies restrict lawyers from appearing before the courts. “So in essence a litigant, on that day, is deprived of his right of legal practitioner to represent him, and the hearing in his case is adjourned without any progress in the cause.”
According to the facts of the case, the matter arose from the murder of a young lawyer, in which a station house officer was implicated.
An FIR was duly registered, and the incident triggered protests demanding that the officer be brought to justice. The officer subsequently surrendered before a court and was taken into custody. He later engaged advocate Shabbir Hussain Gigyani as his counsel.
These developments prompted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council to pass a resolution prohibiting any advocate from representing the accused officer.
Meanwhile, advocate Ali Azim Afridi faced disciplinary proceedings when his licence was suspended by the executive committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council in an emergency meeting convened on October 8, 2025.
The suspension followed a communication from the Peshawar Bar Council, which cited his court appearance during a declared strike as an act of “indiscipline”.
The respondents challenged the suspension of their licences before the PHC, which allowed their writ petitions through a consolidated judgment.
‘Denial of access to justice’
A division bench of the FCC, headed by Justice Aamer Farooq, held that lawyers’ strikes are tantamount to a denial of access to justice.
“Our legal system is already over-burdened and cause lists before the courts are hefty and litigant has to wait for years and years for the matter to culminate and in such state of affairs the strike call on part of the lawyer bodies add to the plight of the litigant.”
The court further observed: “Regardless of how noble the cause of the lawyers’ strike is, it is neither the solution nor the way to voice their concern as it is done at the cost of a litigant waiting for redressal of his grievance or justice to be served.”
“The denial of access to justice in any form is a violation of the Constitution, whether it be in the form of non-appearance before the courts or closure of administrative or judicial court work.”
The FCC held that preventing lawyers from representing litigants or appearing before courts is wholly impermissible.
