KARACHI, Nov 18: The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to a deputy attorney-general and the advocate-general for Friday in a petition challenging an ordinance promulgated on Nov 3 to amend the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973.

Petitioner-lawyer H.A. Bhatti submitted that the electoral process for the Sindh Bar Council polls was well under way when the Act was amended to enhance the requirement of professional standing for the contestants.

A candidate was originally required to have practised at the Bar for seven years. Under the amendment, he must have practised law for 10 years and should be enrolled as an advocate of the high court. The condition of 10-year practice has rendered him ineligible for the polls, initially scheduled for Nov 27.

The petitioner said the ordinance also reduced the number of seats in the four provincial bar councils and was promulgated at a time when a bill containing identical provisions was pending consideration by a standing committee of the Senate and the NWFP Bar Council had already held its elections. The ordinance, he submitted, should not be allowed to operate retrospectively to extinguish the vested rights of the candidates who had filed their nomination papers and were awaiting their scrutiny.

The SBC polls should be held as previously scheduled by the advocate-general, who is ex officio chairman of the council, and the balloting be conducted on or before Nov 30 instead of Dec 11.The original number of seats should also be restored.

A bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim, issued notices to federal and provincial attorneys and the SBC for Friday at the request of Advocate Raja Qureshi who appeared for the petitioner.

Earlier a bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain, could not take up the petition as the latter declined to hear it for personal reasons.

CONVICTION: A division bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, on Thursday admitted an appeal filed by a convict in a murder case and issued notice to the state, adds PPI.