Nisar Durrani elected SHCBA Hyderabad president

Ruling party-backed group retains control of circuit bench in bar elections.

HYDERABAD: A Pakistan Peoples Party-backed group of lawyers has retained the control of the Sindh High Court Bar Association’s Hyderabad circuit bench in the bar elections held on Saturday.

Presidential candidate Advocate Nisar Durrani clinched 296 votes, followed by his contenders Yousuf Laghari and Zahoor Baloch at 214 and 45 votes, respectively. Advocate Jagdesh Ramchand Malani was elected as the vice-president with 225 votes, Ayaz Tunio general secretary with 278 votes, Mazhar Hussain Memon library secretary with 261 votes, Syed Shahzad Ali Shah treasurer with 239 votes and Ishrat Lohar was elected the joint secretary with 204 votes.  The group led by Durrani, who also heads the Hyderabad District Bar Association, won five of the six seats of the office bearers and five seats of the seven-member managing committee.

The new seven-member managing committee now comprises advocates Inam Ali Malik, Noorul Amin Sipio, Maula Bux Narejo, Shameen Mughal, Santosh Kumar Kalal, Ghulam Hyder Memon and Wahid Bux Laghari.

Of the 611 registered voters, 558 votes were cast meaning a 91 per cent turnout. Only three votes were cancelled, according to the election committee chairman, Sachal Aiwan. The bar has over 800 members. “Unlike past elections, the transparency of the process has been acknowledged by all groups,” Aiwan told The Express Tribune.

With the late entry of Sindh’s former advocate general Yousuf Laghari, three groups of lawyers contested the bar elections including the one supported by the Pakistan Muslim League Lawyers Forum. Advocate Zahoor Baloch’s panel was routed in the polls. Laghari’s panel, considered strongest proponents for a permanent SHC bench in Hyderabad and for filling the vacant seats in the bench, secured the general secretary slot and one managing committee member.

The SHC Hyderabad circuit bench has a jurisdiction over 12 districts in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions. It has a sanctioned strength of six judges but mostly two to three judges sit on the bench that too on rotational basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2012.