Bar association polls challenged in SC
A writ petition challenging the results of the recent SCBA has been filed before the apex court wherein the petitioners have urged the court to set aside the elections and declare them invalid.
A writ petition challenging the results of the recent Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has been filed before the apex court wherein the petitioners have urged the court to set aside the elections and declare them invalid.
The split among the legal fraternity of the apex court has come out in the open with members of SCBA’s election reforms committee approaching the Supreme Court and accusing the association’s present President of indulging in “illegal practices.” According to the petitioners the President, senior advocate P.H. Parekh, “allured voters by giving fabulous dinner and serving alcoholic drinks” a day before the election on May 9.
The petitioners have further claimed that the voters list was not prepared in accordance to the rules and was not signed by the members of the implementation committee.
“The one-bar-one-vote rule was given a go by and hundreds of voters who had voted in the elections of the other Bar Associations also voted in these elections too,” stated the petitioners. Also, none of the voters were asked to produce identity cards for the issuance of election slips.
The petitioners have also challenged the regulation of the Societies of Registration Act, which does not provide for either ensuring democratic elections or an effective method of ensuring free
and fair polls to a registered body. “The Act also does not provide for the regulation of the elections or directives to the election committees constituted for the said purpose,” the petitioners claimed.