LAHORE, July 23: The Lahore High Court on Monday summoned the Punjab Bar Council vice chairman and its executive committee chairman on a petition of Supreme Court Bar Association Vice-President (Punjab) Ms Imrana Parveen Baloch challenging suspension of her license by the council.

The bar council had on July 7 suspended the licenses of Ms Baloch and many others allegedly for attacking the office bearers and ransacking the council office.

Ms Baloch, in her petition, submitted that under the provisions of Section 41(2) (a) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the Pakistan Bar Council had the jurisdiction to take cognizance of the alleged incident and misconduct by an advocate of the Supreme Court.

She said firstly the PbBC did not have the jurisdiction in the matter to pass an impugned order against the petitioner and others. Secondly, she said, the officers of the executive committee of the Punjab Bar Council misunderstood the facts of the case.

She stated this was a dispute between a senior office bearer of the SCBA on the one hand and the Punjab Bar Council on the other. Under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the court had a role to play in the affairs of the bar councils and in the present case, the court perceives itself to have a parental role, she said. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial directed the respondents to appear before the court on Tuesday (today) and assist it on the matter.