Supreme Court Approves BCI Rule Amendment Allowing Bar Association Office Bearers To Contest Bar Council Elections

The Bar Council of India recently informed the Supreme Court that it has amended its rule which barred office bearers of Bar Associations from contesting elections to State Bar Councils without resigning from the Bar Association post.Under the earlier Rule, an office bearer of a Bar Association could not contest in elections of a State Bar Council until they resigned from the Bar Association post. Now, as per the amended Rule, an advocate holding a Bar Association post can contest in the elections of a State Bar Council, subject to filing of an undertaking before the Returning Officer that they would not simultaneously hold the two representative posts in the Bar Association as well as the Bar Council. That is, if elected to the State Bar Council, they would either resign from the Bar Association post or give up the Bar Council post.The amendment will apply to all cases where elections have not yet been held, from the date of its publication in the official gazette.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was apprised of the development by Senior Advocate Guru Krishna Kumar (for BCI). As the operation of the amendment had been made subject to approval of the Court, the bench passed an order to the following effect:"It seems to us that the grievances of the elected office-bearers of the Bar Associations have been adequately redressed through the amended provisions. The same is accordingly approved, and the provisions may, thus, be published in the Official Gazette of India without any delay.With regard to the enforceability of the amended Chapter III to the elections to Bar Councils of different States, a decision will have to be taken on a case-to-case basis. For that purpose, we dispose of these writ petitions by permitting any aggrieved party to approach the High Powered Election Supervisory Committee, headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, former Judge of this Court, for appropriate directions in this regard. The Committee shall be at liberty to take an appropriate decision or lay down guidelines in relation thereto."The amended Chapter 3 reads thus:"CHAPTER III 1. Eligibility of office-bearers of Bar Associations to contest election to a State Bar Council.a. An advocate who is an office-bearer of a Bar Association shall be eligible to contest the election to a State Bar Council, provided that such advocate files an undertaking before the Returning Officer at the time of filing the nomination stating that, if elected as a member of the State Bar Council, the advocate shall not simultaneously hold more than one representative post and shall accordingly resign as an office-bearer of the Bar Association upon election, or in the alternative shall resign as a member of the State Bar Council if the advocate chooses to continue as an office-bearer of the Bar Association.b. If any advocate who holds a position as an office-bearer of a Bar Association is elected as a member of a State Bar Council, such advocate shall, within fifteen days from the date of declaration of results, exercise a written option to retain only one of the representative posts and shall communicate the same to the concerned Bar Association and the concerned State Bar Council.c. Upon exercise of such option, the advocate shall relinquish the other post or post held by him or her and shall intimate the same in writing to the concerned Bar Association and the concerned State Bar Council for record and necessary action.d. If any advocate elected as a member of a State Bar Council fails to exercise the option and communicate relinquishment in terms of clause (b) within fifteen days from the date of declaration of results, such advocate shall be deemed to have vacated the office of Member of the State Bar Council upon expiry of the said period.2. Commencement and ApplicabilityThis amendment shall come into force from the date of its publication in the official gazette of India, after due approval from the Hon'ble Apex Court, and this shall apply to all cases where elections have not yet been held.”The Court was dealing with a writ petition praying that Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council elections be held as per the amended BCI Rule. Another petition challenged the 2016 Rules, particularly Chapter III thereof.Earlier, in February, the Court had dealt with a writ petition filed by office bearers of some Bar Associations assailing Chapter III of the Bar Council of India Uniform Rules (and Mandatory Guidelines) for the Elections of Bar Councils, 2016. Under this chapter, elected office bearers of Bar Associations were barred from contesting in the elections of State Bar Councils until they resigned from the Bar Association post.This writ petition was disposed of with a direction to the BCI to reconsider its rule. CJI Kant suggested that the BCI could impose a condition that after election, an advocate cannot continue to be a post-holder in both a Bar Association and a Bar Council. Subsequently, vide a notification issued in March, the BCI...

Supreme Court Approves BCI Rule Amendment Allowing Bar Association Office Bearers To Contest Bar Council Elections

Debby Jain

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