LARKANA, April 23: Through a constitutional petition filed in the Larkana bench of the Sindh High Court, a lawyer on Wednesday challenged the legitimacy of the sitting members of the managing committee of the district Bar Association.

The petition, filed by a senior lawyer, Zia Ahmed Jalbani, accused the office-bearers of the Larkana Bar Association’s (LBA) managing committee of extending their tenure in violation of the rules and regulations of the lawyers’ body.

Their tenure, the petitioner contended, had ended on Dec 31, 2002, adding that it had been explicitly declared in the Article 6 of the association’s by-laws.

The managing committee’s members, he said, had overstepped their authority by postponing the association’s elections despite convening several meetings in this regard.

A notice was issued for holding a general body meeting on April 15, adding that only 54 members, out of the association’s total strength of 400, had attended the meeting.

The meeting, he said, instead of discussing the agenda, was converted into what he termed a “sham” referendum by the supporters of the defunct office- bearers, adopting an illegal proposal to extend their tenure till next year.

He said of the 54 members in attendance, nine had stood against the unlawful and unconstitutional proposal.

He prayed the SHC to direct the Sindh Bar Council to appoint an inquiry committee to look into the affairs of the district bar association, besides appointing an interim committee to run the affairs of DBA, Larkana, until the holding of elections.

The petitioner also prayed the court to restrain the office-bearers from performing their duties.

The division bench, comprising Mr Justice Wahid Bakhsh Brohi and Mr Justice Mujeebullah Siddiqi, would hear the petition on April 24.