Bar Council elections: BCI defers new rules

BCI secretary Srimanto Sen, releasing the extracts of the minutes of the BCI meeting held on Sunday, said, “After consideration, the council is of the opinion that since the elections have now been declared and notification has been issued already, it won’t be proper to make or approve any rule with regard to modification of the disqualification of the candidates.” “The matter is therefore deferred for the present. It will be considered at an appropriate time,” he added.

After extensive hearing of the issue, the Madras High Court had earlier upheld the resolutions passed by the Special Committee of BCTP, pertaining to qualification criteria for candidates contesting the State Bar Council elections. The first bench headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee had held that the specific rules, including 10 or more years of continuous legal practice to stand for elections, disqualification of those with political affiliations and criminal antecedents, etc, were not arbitrary. However, the bench made it clear that the new rules would take effect only if the BCI approves the same. Consequently, the court allowed those advocates who have less than 10 years of experience to file nominations for the upcoming elections.