After statehood, now battle for Bar Council; Law graduate moves Supreme Court for creation of Telangana Bar Council

A law graduate from Telangana has moved the Supreme Court seeking the establishment of a Bar Council for the State of Telengana. The petitioner is one Savulgay Prabhakar (Petitioner) who has challenged the judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad (High Court) which had held that a Bar Council cannot be established for the State of Telengana until a separate High Court is created for the State of Andhra Pradesh..Senior Advocates L Nageswara Rao and V Shekhar appeared for the Petitioner during the last hearing on March 16 when the matter was adjourned to April 20. Advocate Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad represented the Bar Council of India (BCI)..The facts leading to the appeal in the Supreme Court are as follows. The Petitioner graduated in law and sought to enrol as a lawyer in State of Telengana. When he went to the Bar Council of the State for enrolment, he was informed that no separate Bar Council has been formed for the State of Telengana and the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh is proceeding with the enrolment of law graduates from Telengana also. He also a got a letter from the BCI stating that law graduates from Telengana region have to enrol themselves as lawyers with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh..He then filed a writ petition in the High Court praying for declaring the inaction of the Centre in not enforcing Section 34 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 as illegal; the section provides for the establishment of Bar Council for Telengana. The single judge ruled in favour of the Petitioner and held that the BCI is not empowered to authorise the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh to act as the Bar Council for the State of Telengana..The BCI preferred an appeal to the Division Bench of the High Court which stayed the judgment of the single judge and held that the Bar Council for Telengana cannot come into existence unless a separate High Court is created for the State of Andhra Pradesh. The Court also directed the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh to continue with the enrolment of fresh graduates for both the states while directing that a separate register containing details of the advocates be maintained for each of the States..In his petition in the Supreme Court, the Petitioner has contended that the Advocates Act, 1961 mandates that each State should have a separate Bar Council. The Petitioner has submitted that as per Sections 30(1) and 34(1) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 read with Section 39(1) (a) of the Advocates Act, 1961, a separate Bar Council for the State should come into effect on the date which the government notified as the “appointed day” for the formation of State of Telengana. The Petitioner has also contended that Section 58 of the Advocates Act, which is a special provision to deal with transition period, does not empower the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh to undertake the responsibility of enrolment of lawyers in Telengana region and the BCI’s direction to the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh to undertake the exercise of enrolment of lawyers from the State of Telengana is without jurisdiction..Instead, it is the Petitioner’s case that as per the transitory provision under Section 58,.“If a State Bar Council is not constituted or is unable to perform its functions after its constitution, the functions of the Bar Council in so far as it relates to admission and enrolment should be performed by the High Court.”.The matter is being now heard by a three judge Bench presided by Chief Justice HL Dattu and comprising Justices MY Eqbal and Arun Mishra. The matter was earlier heard by another Bench but Justice Ramana, who was part of that Bench, had recused from the case after which the matter was shifted to the Chief Justice’ court..Interestingly, Telengana has been witnessing protests including boycott of trial courts over the issue of establishment of separate High Courts for the two States..Image Courtesy: Website of High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad