Supreme Court Seeks BCI's View On Dispute Over Recognition Of Bar Association Of Delhi's Rouse Avenue District Court

The Supreme Court on Friday (October 4) issued notice to the Bar Council of India (BCI) in an appeal against a Delhi High Court order that recognized the Central Delhi Court Bar Association as the official bar body of the Rouse Avenue District Court.

“Issue notice to the Bar Council of India as the issue involved would require assistance of Bar Council of India. Notice is made returnable on 18th November”, the Court stated.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih was healing an appeal filed by Rouse Avenue District Court Bar Association in a dispute with the Central Delhi Court Bar Association for recognition for the Rouse Avenue Court.

Justice Abhay Oka today expressed concern about the BCD's role. “We want to ask Bar Council of India how a Bar Council can intervene into which should be the bar association of a court”, Justice Oka remarked.

During the hearing today, the counsel for the Rouse Avenue District Court Bar Association submitted that the Bar Council of Delhi had refused to recognize the association. He asserted that the regulator (BCD) itself had floated another bar association (the Central Delhi Bar Association). The counsel argued that the Bar Council should not interfere in the formation of bar associations.

The counsel for the appellant requested that the matter be heard earlier, but Justice Oka stated that there was no urgency in a case where two bar associations were in conflict, and the Court would focus on the broader issue of the role of the High Court and BCD.

“There is no urgency when two groups in the Bar are fighting and breaking their heads. Only the wider issue we want to decide – whether Delhi High Court could have interfere, what role Bar Council can play, these issues have to be decided”

The bench issued notice to the Bar Council of India, returnable on November 18.

Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora submitted that the BCD did not wish to have any kind of association at all. However, the appellant's counsel alleged that BCD was promoting its own association, a claim which Arora contested as false.

Background

The case arose when four bar associations - the Central Delhi Court Bar Association, the Rouse Avenue Bar Association, the Delhi Rouse Avenue Court Bar Association, and the Rouse Avenue District Court Bar Association, sought recognition after the establishment of the Rouse Avenue District Court in 2019. The BCD rejected the pleas of the three associations and granted recognition to the Central Delhi Court Bar Association. The Bar Council cited serious infractions in the membership enrolment processes of the other associations as the reason for rejecting their applications.

The Rouse Avenue Bar Association challenged this decision before the Delhi High Court. In April 2023, the High Court upheld the Bar Council's decision, noting that although the fundamental right to form an association under Article 19(1)(c) of the Constitution exists, this right does not automatically entitle any association to be recognized as a court-annexed or official bar body.

The HC further held that the membership enrolment process of the other associations had significant infractions, which justified the Bar Council's rejection.

Case no. – CA No. 8893-8894/2024 Diary No. 31378/2024

Case Title – Rouse Avenue District Court Bar Association v. Bar Council of Delhi