‘Bar enrolment can’t be denied arbitrarily’

In a controversy that emerged over the Madras Bar Association (MBA) allegedly admitting members at their whim and fancy while rejecting the applications of many, the Tamil Nadu Bar Council has reiterated that membership to a practising advocate cannot be denied arbitrarily.

The observations were made while dealing with three complaints pertaining to the recent selection of 25 new members that was reportedly carried out without following any disclosed norms.

The MBA is the oldest Bar Association in the Madras High Court. Admission to the association is reportedly based on referrals by existing members.

Enrolment Committee members senior advocate R Singaravelan and advocate N Chandrasekaran said, “We are surprised to note that without even any guidelines and without even following any rule of law, 25 advocates among hundreds were chosen and they were admitted as members of the Madras Bar Association”.

Also, observing that Bar Associations can neither fix any restriction for admission of membership nor prohibit totally the membership, as the membership is the right of an advocate and not the privilege of an association, the committee said, “We are not against the admission of any new member of the Association. But we make it clear that no Bar Association, however old and superior it may be, can arbitrarily ignore the application for membership of any advocate and choose another without following any uniform rule of law and without assigning any reasons”.

Further, the committee on recording the submission of the incumbent MBA president, senior advocate ARL Sundaresan, that the new members were selected only after verification of their professional details, exclaimed, “When the oldest and reputed Bar Association of a chartered high court chooses to behave like this, which association can be expected to follow the rule of law.” “The reputed associations are bound to prove their reputation by following uniform rule of law not only to it members but to all. The Bar Associations are meant to give place for juniors and train them in the field of law for the strongest and independent judiciary,” the committee added.

One of the complaints was moved by MBA member N G R Prasad questioning the non-admission of an advocate proposed by him. Two other complaints were preferred by advocates Pitty Parthasarathy and Mohan Ranganathan. They had also called on the Bar Council to defer MBA elections conducted in April this year, in view of the controversy over the selection of members.

Another advocate, Mohandoss, who impleaded in the matter, contended that he was not even able to get an application for admission into the MBA and that he was treated as an “untouchable”. He further submitted that his 2010 application for membership is yet to be considered.