Bar Council of UP can’t interfere in Bar Assn polls, rules high court

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has ruled that the Bar Council of UP has no right or jurisdiction to interfere in holding of the Bar Association elections.

A two-judge bench comprising justice Rakesh Tiwari and justice Mukhtar Ahmad was of the view that Bar Associations were registered under the Societies Registration Act. Any dispute with regard to the election of any Bar Association was independent of the control of the state bar council or the Bar Council of India, the court added.

The court said that model bye-laws or model guidelines would not take away the power of the registrar or the prescribed authority appointed under the Societies Registration Act with regard to conduct of elections and settlement of poll dispute.

The State Bar Council or the Bar Council of India cannot step into the shoes of the prescribed authority in colourable exercise of powers under the Advocates’ Act, the court said.

The order was passed on a writ petition filed by Janpad Diwani Evam Faujdari Bar Association, Gautam Budh Nagar, UP. The petition challenged the order of the Bar Council of UP chairman dated July 24, 2015 by which he had suspended the entire election programme of the Bar Association. The court quashed the order of the Bar Council of UP chairman holding the same, ‘without jurisdiction, nullity and without authority of law’.