Andhra Pradesh High Court orders ad-hoc committee to take over executive body of High Court Bar Association

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday ordered that an eight-member ad-hoc committee constituted by the State Bar Council take charge of the executive body of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates' Association (APHCAA). [N Vijaya Bhaskar v. Union of India and ors].Justice Battu Devanand passed the order after an eight-member committee was formed by the State Bar Council since the terms of the existing office-bearers had elapsed in March. "In view of the "Action Taken Report‟ submitted by the respondent No.2, virtually the reliefs as sought for by the petitioner has otherwise been acceded to by the Respondent No.2 ... The "Adhoc Committee‟ constituted by the Chairman, Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, shall take over the charge of the Executive Body of the Respondent No.3 forthwith," the order reads. .The Court was hearing a plea filed by Advocate N Vijaya Bhaskar, seeking that the Central government be directed to ensure proper implementation of the Advocates Act in Andhra Pradesh in terms of having an executive body for the APHCAA.This prayer was made in the context of the the alleged inaction of the Andhra Pradesh Bar Council in taking action on a November 1 complaint against the Association.The said complaint was filed as the Council had not called for polls after March 31, when the tenure of the existing office-bearers had elapsed.It was stated in the plea that this state of affairs was "illegal, arbitrary, against all cannons of fair play and natural justice and contrary to the model byelaws of the Bar Association...also offends Articles 14, 19 and 21 of Constitution.".Counsel for the respondents submitted that the tenure of the executive body of the APHCAA was extended to March 2023 by an Andhra Pradesh Bar Council resolution dated September 18. However, on perusing this resolution, the Court said,"In the considered opinion of this Court, this Resolution is not helpful to the learned Senior Counsel to substantiate his contention, as in the present case, there is a complaint dated 01.11.2022 submitted by the members of the Respondent No.3/Association against non-conducting."It went on to note that the last election notification had specifically mentioned that the tenure of the executive body to be elected was up to March 31 of this year. "As and when there is inaction on the part of the second respondent/State Bar Council to consider the complaint of the petitioner, if it is brought to the notice of the Respondent No.1, it has to protect the interest of the petitioner...But, without conducting elections, the earlier Executive Body, whose term expired by 31st March, 2022, are continuing illegally and unauthorizedly."The Court took into account an action-taken report placed on record by the State Bar Council, which formed the ad-hoc committee to take over the functioning of APHCAA's executive body. The committee comprises:Senior Advocate P Sri RaghuramSenior Advocate V Venugopala RaoAdvocate P Rambhoopal ReddyAdvocate P Sreeramulu NaiduAdvocate TS RayuluAdvocate GV SivajiAdvocate G Tuhin KumarThe ad-hoc committee was directed to assume charge forhtwith. .Advocates Seetharam Chaparla and B Balaiah appeared for the petitioner. Deputy Solicitor General N Harinath appeared for the Central government.Advocate SVR Subramanyam appeared for the Andhra Pradesh Bar Council. Senior Advocate SS Prasad and Advocate Sindhu Kumaria represented the APHCAA..Interestingly, a faction of the APHCAA had recently resolved to protest against the Supreme Court Collegium's proposal to transfer Justices Battu Devanand and D Ramesh from the High Court.However, there is a split in the Association with regard to the protests, with the outgoing office-bearers being against the call to abstain from court work and send representations to the Chief Justice of India. The other members of the Association had called an extraordinary general body meeting condemning the two transfers, a resolution that the outgoing office-bearers says was never officially passed. .Andhra Pradesh Advocates Joint Committee protests transfer of two judges, seeks review of collegium decision.Advocates Seetharam Chaparla and Dr Bala appeared for the petitioner. Deputy Solicitor General N Harinath appeared for the Central government.Advocate SVR Subramanyam appeared for the Andhra Pradesh Bar Council. Senior Advocate SS Prasad and advocate Sindhu Kumaria represented the Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates' Association.[Read order]