TS, AP to have new Bar Councils in July

The long-pending dream of Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh advocates of having separate Bar Councils for their states is turning into reality four years after bifurcation.

The ground was set for constituting separate Bar Councils for Telangana and AP with the announcement of the election schedule for the new councils which would come into existence in the first week of July 2018 after the polls for both councils on June 29.

TS and AP lawyers have been struggling for the past four years for the bifurcation of the AP Bar Council and to set up separate Bar Councils since bifurcation on June 2, 2014.

The advocates have taken to the streets, boycotted courts and launched a legal battle for their right to have separate Bar Councils which is mandated under Section 3 of the Advocates’ Act, 1961 which stipulates that there shall be a Bar Council for each state.

The process of bifurcation of the existing Bar Council among the two states started by asking the existing members to opt for the state of their choice, after the intervention of the Supreme Court.

Ms Renuka Reddy, secretary to the AP Bar Council, who is presently overseeing the election process for the Councils, said “The existing AP State Bar Council is one of the largest statutory bodies of professionals having statutory duties such as enrolment of law graduates as advocates, regulating the legal practice of advocates, initiating action against erring advocates and also taking up welfare activities/schemes for the benefit of advocates.”

She said that at present there were more than 97,630 advocates on the rolls of the AP State Bar Council, who elect the members of the Bar Council.

The secretary explained that clause (b), subsection (2) of Section 3 of the Act, 1961, lays down that a State Bar Council with an electorate exceeding 10,000 advocates shall consist of 25 members and keeping in view this rule, both states shall have councils with 25 members each.

She explained that though there were more than 40,000 members in each state after bifurcation, only 27,600 members in AP and 20,077 members in Telangana would have voting rights as per rules. Only members who have the certificate of practice will have right to vote in the elections.