Can two bar associations have premises in same High Court campus? Supreme Court to examine

The Supreme Court on Monday decided that it will examine whether two separate High Court Bar Associations can have different premises allotted in the same High Court campus [Senior Advocates Council v. Amit Patel and ors]..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered status quo with regard to the space allotted to bar bodies functioning within the Madhya Pradesh High Court premises in Jabalpur.The Court was hearing an appeal against a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that had held that the allotment of premises to the Madhya Pradesh High Court Advocates Bar Association (MPHCABA) as a separate legal entity was illegal.In doing so, the High Court had also cancelled the August 2007 allotment of a room/ hall to another bar body, the Senior Advocates Council. The top court issued notice today on the Council's challenge to the High Court order and also ordered status quo. .The dispute began after advocate Amit Patel, a member of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association (MPHCBA), filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition before the High Court against the allotment of premises to the Madhya Pradesh High Court Advocates Bar Association (MPHCABA) in the High Court campus in Jabalpur.The MPHCABA is a breakaway faction of the MPHCBA.Patel argued that there can be only one bar association associated with the High Court, which is the MPHCBA and therefore, MPHCABA is not entitled to claim any facility for itself in the High Court premises..On May 3, 2024, the High Court ruled in favor of Patel and said that the license of the campus premises allotted to MPHCABA by the former Chief Justices of the Court was in error of the settled procedure and was arbitrary.The High Court also held that the MPHCABA cannot enjoy the patronage of the High Court as a separate legal entity. The Court also held that the allotment of a hall to Senior Advocates Council was also illegal and arbitrary. The Council had been using the said hall space as its Bar room..This led to the appeal before the apex court by the Council.Advocate-on-Record Sarvan Ritam Khare appeared for the Senior Advocates Council.Advocate-on-Record Himashu Sharma appeared for Amit Patel..The Madhya Pradesh High Court had in May this year dismissed a petition moved by the MPHCABA against the State Bar Council's refusal to recognise it as a separate bar association.The Court had observed that there was no justification for registration of a parallel body when the aim and object of the Advocates Act and the Adhivakta Kalyan Nidhi Adhiniyam of 1982, was already being fulfilled through the existing bar association.