Bar Council Has No Power To Constitute Elders Committee For Bar Associations: Allahabad HC [Read Order]
The Allahabad High Court has clarified that the Bar Council does not have the jurisdiction to "usurp" the power for constitution of an Elders Committee under the Bye-laws of a Bar Association. The Division Bench comprising of Justices Sunita Agarwal and Ajay Bhanot has held that Elders Committee is a "permanent statutory committee" and any dispute relating to its constitution can...
The Allahabad High Court has clarified that the Bar Council does not have the jurisdiction to "usurp" the power for constitution of an Elders Committee under the Bye-laws of a Bar Association.
The Division Bench comprising of Justices Sunita Agarwal and Ajay Bhanot has held that Elders Committee is a "permanent statutory committee" and any dispute relating to its constitution can only be raised either before it or the General Body of the Bar Association.
The order has come in a writ petition filed by the Meerut Bar Association against re-constitution of its Elders Committee by the Bar Council of UP.
The High Court was informed that the Council Chairman had expelled two members of the Committee, Laxmikant Tyagi and Gopal Krishna Chaturvedi, on receiving a complaint that they were not in regular practice, while another member Brahmapal Singh was removed from the Committee without giving any reason.
Setting aside this decision, the High Court held that "the Elders Committee being a statutory permanent body constituted under the Byelaws could not have been replaced by the Chairman of the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh on its own. The order impugned does not record that any notice was issued to the members of Elders Committee who have been replaced, though the Bar Council of India was bereft of power to do so."
Significantly, the Council Chairman had re-constituted the Committee and directed it to hold elections to the Bar Association by 29 June 2020.
The court has termed the Elders Committee constituted by the Council Chairman as "incompetent to interfere in the affairs of the Association". It clarified,
"Under the Bye-laws of the Association, the role of Bar Council of India ends with the approval of the Bye-laws, in so far as the elections of the office bearers or constitution of the committees of the registered Association, any dispute relating to the office bearers of the Association elected under Clause 16 of the Bye-laws, by whatsoever named it may be called, can only be raised before the prescribed authority under Section 25 of the Societies Registration Act."
The Elders Committee is constituted in accordance with the seniority of the members of the concerned Bar Association, taking into account the 11 date of their enrollment as an Advocate by the Bar Council. The members of the Elders Committee must have atleast rendered 10 years regular practice in the Court concerned and must be continuing as regular practitioner of the said Court.
In this backdrop the High Court has held:
"The Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh under Section 21 of the Advocates Act has only the power to decide any dispute between the parties (Advocates) regarding their inter-se seniority, taking into consideration of their date of enrollment with the Bar Council. In the instant case, no such dispute was raised before the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh."
Case Details:
Case Title: Meerut Bar Association & Anr. v. Bar Council of UP & Ors.
Case No.: Writ C No. 13067/2020
Appearance: Senior Advocate Anoop Trivedi and Advocate Vivek Saran (for Petitioners); Advocate Swetashwa Agarwal (for Respondents)
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