Bar Council to conduct elections in Odisha within 60 days from February 23
CUTTACK: The Odisha State Bar Council (OSBC) in an affidavit filed in Orissa High Court on Friday stated it will publish the final voter list on or before February 23 and conduct elections within the next 60 days. The affidavit filed by OSBC secretary Jajati Samantasinghar in pursuance to an order issued by the court on September 28 last year, further informed that Justice Pramath Patnaik, a retired high court judge, has given his consent to be the returning officer for the election.
Taking note, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman said, the returning officer will accordingly fix the date of the polling within 60 days from February 23. Advocate members of 180 Bar associations elect 25 members to the OSBC’s Council for a five-year term and the members elect the chairman and vice chairman. The Bar Council of India (BCI) had extended the council’s term after it expired in May, 2019. After an extended six month term expired in November 2019, the BCI had constituted a special committee to carry forward OSBC.
With advocate general Ashok Parija (who is the ex-officio member of OSBC) as chairman, the special committee included senior advocate Manas Ranjan Mohapatra and advocate Ajay Kumar Baral as members. The committee has been managing the State Bar Council affairs since November 5, 2019.
The election issue first reached the court when advocate Chinmay Mohanty, a former OSBC member, filed a petition seeking intervention against non-conduct of election. The OSBC had conducted its election last in 2014. OSBC pleaded that conducting of election had not been possible as the final electoral roll had not been prepared due to non-completion of the verification process for identification of non-practising advocates.
However, on January 4, 2022, the single judge bench of Justice Arindam Sinha directed OSBC to conduct the election on the basis of existing electoral roll within six weeks. But BCI filed a petition challenging the order of the judge on the ground that six weeks was insufficient to conduct the election. The petition has since been pending before the court. After taking note of OSBC’s affidavit working out the precise election schedule, the division bench fixed May 9 as the next date for taking stock of the matter.