LARKANA, Nov 23: A petition challenging the president's ordinance which reduced the number of Larkana seats in the Sindh Bar Council was transferred from the Sindh High Court, Larkana circuit bench, to the SHC, Karachi, on Monday.

Sindh Bar Council members Asif Ali Soomro and Ayaz Soomro, hailing from Larkana, had filed the petition. The petitioners said Larkana, having 456 voters, had been given two seats in the Bar council in accordance with section 5(2) (b) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973, but the president had promulgated an ordinance on Nov 3, reducing the seats from two to one.

When contacted, Ayaz Soomro told this correspondent on Monday that another identical application filed by advocate Hanif Bhatti would also be heard along with his petition on Tuesday. Advocate Muzaffar Leghari from Mithi had also filed a petition in the Hyderabad bench of the SHC, he added.

The petitioners claimed that the ordinance had been promulgated in violation of articles 25 and 264 (b)(c) of the Constitution and section 8 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973. Notices have been issued to the Sindh advocate general, secretary of the Sindh Bar Council and secretaries of the National Assembly and the Senate.