BENGALURU: Southern State Bar Council members have resolved to continue the existing State Bar Councils (SBCs), until either the Supreme Court or the Bar Council of India gave a nod to fresh elections.
Postponing elections till the Confirmation of Practice (CoP) rules is finalised is not correct, they observed.
The resolutions were passed at the end of a two-day meet, held in the city on Sunday.
The Council members also unanimously disapproved of the appointment of retired judges to supervise implementation of COP rules and other issues in SBCs. “Wherever necessary, a committee of elected members including senior advocates of the local area should be entrusted to do the needful,” they said. Implementation of CoP rules and the pending case in the Supreme Court will force SBCs to postpone elections scheduled for SBCs. Therefore, the representatives of law bodies from five State Councils decided to petition the Supreme Court, to allow them to hold elections.
TN, Kerala council members express dissatisfaction
Representatives of the Bar Councils of Tamil Nadu and Kerala expressed dissatisfaction over the decisions taken during the two-day Southern State Bar Council members Meet. Representatives of the two states stood up and urged that their recommendations too be included in the list of resolutions when former president of the Karnataka State Bar Council, C R Gopalaswamy, was reading out the resolutions.
Fearing that the incident would result in an embarrassing situation as Law Minister T B Jayachandra was at the venue, organisers of the event promised to consider them. However, after a meeting at the end of the summit, they decided that their recommendations could not be included.
They had urged the council members to write to the Chief Justice of Madras High Court to take steps to ensure harmonious relationship between the Tamil Nadu Bar Council and the High Court.