Office Bearers Of Bar Association Are To Be Elected By Advocates Regularly Practicing In That Court; Outsiders Cannot Be Permitted To Take Part : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has observed that office-bearers of the Bar Association arre to be elected by genuine voters and advocates genuinely/regularly practising in the High Court/Court concerned. Outsiders not regularly practicing in that court cannot be permitted to hijack the system by permitting them to take part in the election process of electing members of the Bar Association, the Court added."Office bearers of the Bar Association are to be elected by the genuine voters and the advocates genuinely/regularly practicing in the High Court and/or the Court concerned, and outsiders not regularly practicing in that court cannot be permitted to hijack the system by permitting them to take part in the election process of electing members of the Bar Association", a bench comprising Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna observed.The bench made these observations while dismissing the special leave petitions assailing Allahabad High Court's order dated August 24 and August 27 of cancelling the election process and imposing some restrictions while conducting elections of the Awadh Bar Association afresh.The elections were cancelled after widespread ruckus and misbehaviour occurred."Any member of the Bar cannot be permitted to misbehave in the premises of the High Court. The manner in which the lawyers acted and misbehaved on 14.08.2021 in the premises of the High Court, where the election of the Awadh Bar Association was going on, cannot be tolerated and accepted and has to be deprecated," bench further observed. "Being a member of the legal profession, which always is being considered as a noble profession, what message the lawyers, who misbehaved will give to the public at large," Court also added. Appearing for petitioners Amit Sachan and Alok Tripathi who are practicing lawyers and contesting the election of the Awadh Bar Association, Senior Advocate R Balasubramanian submitted that the High Court without appreciating that it would be very difficult to bring back nearly 4500 members again for voting in this pandemic situation, cancelled the election of the Awadh Bar Association which were held on August 14, 2021. It was also their contention as far as the earlier election was concerned, only polling was cancelled by the Returning Officer. Senior Counsel also argued that the High Court was not at all justified in declaring fresh elections since in the election which was held on August 14, 2021, only 3614 members out of 4500 had cast their votes directly and the remaining members who had to cast their vote were only 1219. The High Court bench of Justices Ritu Raj Awasthi and Dinesh Kumar Singh had taken suo motu cognizance of the unruly, incident and rustic behaviour and breach of protocol by some of the lawyers during the Awadh Bar Elections on August 14, 2021, that had ultimately led to the cancellation of the election of Awadh Bar Association since this had caused security issues in the High Court's premises. It had also compelled the officers and Police to intervene to maintain the decorum. The Supreme Court noted that "In the election of Awadh Bar Association scheduled to be held on 14.08.2021, the candidates/advocates alongwith their supporters entered into the voting arena and indulged in tearing ballot papers and in pushing female lawyers and misbehaving with them. Even one lawyer was seriously injured and his hand got fractured in the incident. One lawyer suffered heart attack"The Court further observed that the High Court had rightly taken suo moto cognisance and issued various directions including holding fresh elections on September 25, 2021. It also said that the directions that were issued by the High Court in paragraph 24 that dealt with mandatory conditions that were to be complied by a Member of Awadh Bar Association to participate in the election 2021 either for the purpose of contesting the election or casting his/her vote could not be faulted in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case since they were issued to maintain the purity of the election of the Bar Association. Reliance was also placed by the bench on paragraphs 16 to 19 of Top Court's judgement in R. Muthukrishnan Vs. Registrar General, High Court of Judicature at Madras, to emphasize on the importance of the Bar and the role to be played by the members of the Bar in the administration of justice delivery system and on paragraph 31 in which it was observed that there is no room for taking out the procession in the court premises or slogan raising in the courts. The Top Court in the aforesaid case had heavily criticised the misbehaviour of the advocates in the premises of Madras High Court which had resulted in requisitioning of CISF for maintaining safety and majesty of the Court and rule of law. Noting that the matter was sub judice before the High Court, the bench refrained from making further observations on the conduct of the advocates who...

Office Bearers Of Bar Association Are To Be Elected By Advocates Regularly Practicing In That Court; Outsiders Cannot Be Permitted To Take Part : Supreme Court

Shruti Kakkar

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