The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the Sindh advocate general, additional attorney general on a petition challenging the Pakistan Bar Council’s (PBC) decision to stop the Karachi Bar Association’s (KBA) elections.
The petitioner, Ebrahim Saifuddin, who is also a candidate for the general secretary post in the KBA polls, submitted in the petition that the Pakistan Bar Council had on February 13 stopped the KBA polls that were going to take place on February 14 on orders of the Sindh Bar Council, resulting in an indefinite postponement of the electoral process.
He submitted that the KBA polls was a matter of public importance, which was statutorily due on December 13, 2025 but remained pending for over two months depriving thousands of advocates of their democratic rights to elect their representatives.
The petitioner said elections were first rescheduled due to administrative reasons, illness of election commissioner and then KBA cabinet failed to take timely steps in accordance with the law resulting in continuation of an unelected body beyond its lawful tenure.
He said the Sindh Bar Council constituted an election board and fixed February 14 for the elections but the PBC suspended the election process on an appeal against the SBC decision till further orders.
The counsel submitted that irregularities, if any, were procedural and remediable in nature and did not justify indefinite suspension of the elections particularly when all contesting candidates were willing to furnish undertakings to proceed with the polling subject to post election verifications.
He said that continued postponement of elections on technical grounds amounted to denial of representative governance, undermined the autonomy of the bar and disproportionately infringed the rights guaranteed under the Article 17 and 25 of the Constitution.
He said that delay of polls had occurred due to administrative inefficiencies of regulatory bodies and not on account of any fault of candidates and voters. He said unless immediate judicial intervention was made, the KBA shall continue to function without the elected body for an indeterminate period causing irreparable prejudice to the legal fraternity at large. He requested the high court to order the expeditious conduct of the elections through an independent mechanism, permitting the electoral process to proceed notwithstanding pending procedural verifications.
A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that questions raised in the petition were with regard to legality of the PBC’s order, indefinite delay of the KBA polls, functioning of the KBA through an unelected body and other propositions.
The high court issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and additional attorney general, subject to maintainability of the petition, to address the subject issue in term of the Supreme Court’s judgment observing that remaining questions shall be considered thereafter.
