KARACHI, Feb 3: The Sindh Bar Council meeting held on January 29 to elect new office-bearers was “unlawful and of no legal effect” and the council would meet on February 15 as scheduled by the advocate-general in his capacity as its ex officio chairman to elect a vice-chairman and chairmen of the executive and 14 other committees, nine SBC members said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The members said they were “shocked and surprised” to learn of the Jan 29 meeting as all SBC members had received the notice of postponement of the meeting by the AG on Jan 26.

The news of the postponement was also carried by the media on Jan 27. It was highly deplorable that the SBC members still deemed it proper to meet and elect office-bearers.

They said a meeting put off by the chairman could not be convened by the vice-chairman, particularly when he was about to hand over charge to his successor in office.

They said senior lawyer Abrar Hasan warned the meeting about the invalidity of the proceedings but it went ahead with the deferred agenda.

The signatories to the statement are: Abdullah Chandio, Mustafa Lakhani, Muhammad Sadiq Hidayatullah, Salahuddin Khan Gandapur, Muhammad Khalil Dogar, Sathi Ishaque, Fahim Riazuddin Siddiqui, Yasin Khan Babar and Mushtaq Husain Shah.