Bar Council Of India Postpones Proposed Elections To Offices Of Chairman & Other Office Bearers; Agrees To Revisit Resolutions

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Friday informed the Karnataka High Court that it has postponed the proposed elections to the office of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Executive Members of the Bar Council of India.

Senior Advocate Professor Ravivarma Kumar, appearing for the BCI, submitted that, "The Bar Council intends to revisit all the resolutions that are under challenge before this court. We have postponed the elections and those elections which were declared will not be held".

The memo filed by BCI in court states that, "It is proposed in the interest of the institution, Respondent no 2, would call for a General Council meeting as per Bar Council of India Rules and would reconsider the effect and validity of the resolutions dated 28/10/2017 and 10/11/2019 in the light of the Bar Council of India rules. Accordingly, respondent 2 undertakes to issue or pass appropriate notice to call upon a general council meeting".

The meeting would address the issue of voting vide letters in sealed covers in the absence of rules to the same effect. The meeting will also discuss :

1. The appropriate period for holding elections, preferably such elections may be held proportionately in advance (similar to the manner of holding elections by representatives of both Parliamentary houses to the post of President/Vice Presidents of India).
2. The appropriate provisions to hold elections as the sole agenda for election meetings in the future.

Senior Advocate Jaykumar Patil, appearing for petitioner Advocate Sadashiva Reddy YR (a member of Bar Council), submitted that the exercise proposed to be undertaken in terms of memo has its own limitations regarding the legal parameters within which the BCI functions. Therefore some grievance requires to be considered by the court as regards the validity of impugned resolutions, he submitted.

A single-judge bench of Justice Krishan S Dixit, after going through the memo, in its order said, "This court disagrees with the statement as much as all grievances can be worked out in the in-house mechanism of BCI in which the petitioner would be one of the participants."

The petitioner further submitted that for regulation of election procedures, more particularly the period in which the election to the next body is to be held, amendment of BCI rules would be required, and therefore the petition should be kept pending.

Disagreeing with this, the court said, "This cannot prevent the disposal of the petition." The Court added that, "In the above circumstance writ petition is disposed of in terms of what is stated in the memo. If any grievance arises after exercise is accomplished by BCI, it is always open for aggrieved to lay challenge in accordance with law. In this regard all contentions and liberties are kept open."

The single judge passed an interim order on November 25, by which it had stayed the holding of elections on December 4 or to any other adjourned date to the office of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Executive Members of the Bar Council of India.

The petitioner's case was that the tenure of the existing office bearers of BCI is till April 17, 2022. Therefore, there is no necessity to hold the elections 4 months ahead of the expiry of the term. Although the senior counsel conceded that the Rules do not clearly specify when the elections are to be held, he argued that it is highly arbitrary and unreasonable to deviate from the established practice of not holding elections too early and too ahead of the expiry of the term. It was further argued that the election meeting was held without issuing a statutory notice

BCI had then filed an intra-court appeal before the division bench challenging the interim order. The bench had refused to interfere with the interim order.

Case Title: Sadashiva Reddy Y R v. The Union Of India

Case No: WP 21250/2021