HC fixes Dec 1 as date of HCBA poll

PRAYAGRAJ : The Allahabad High Court on Thursday fixed December 1 as the date of election of High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Allahabad.

The court further constituted Elders’ Committee, as per request of the members of the bar to supervise the elections.

The court nominated Shashi Prakash Singh, senior advocate and Assistant Solicitor General of India as the chairman of the Elders’ Committee, while senior advocates NC Rajvanshi, TP Singh, OP Singh, Anil Tiwari will be the other members.

The bench comprising acting chief justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice Piyush Agrawal passed the order on a petition filed by Santosh Kumar Mishra and four others challenging the nomination of the chairman of the Elders’ Committee of the HCBA.

The bench, however, made it clear that constitution of the ‘Elder’s Committee’ this time was an exception and one time arrangement to resolve the issue.

The bench observed, “The matter was taken up by this court from time to time. Effort was made to get a resolution of the issue by the members of bar themselves. A direction was given to organise a meeting in the presence of 5 members of each party. In pursuance to the direction aforesaid, a meeting was held on 21.09.2021. The issue could not be resolved, thus, the matter again came up for consideration before this court.”

The court finalised the schedule of the election and fixed October 18 for meeting of ‘general body’ of the bar and November 1 for publication of voters’ list.

Further, nomination forms will be issued and candidates will submit the same between November 10 and 12. The court has fixed November 15 as the next date of hearing in the case and on the said date it will see the progress of the election and adherence of its order.