Petition in Madras HC calls for appointment of Judge Commissioners to supervise BCTN Elections

The Madras High Court on Tuesday heard a writ petition praying that the upcoming elections for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTN) be conducted under the supervision of one or more Judge Commissioners appointed by the High Court..The petitioner, Advocate E Vijay Anand, called for the Court’s intervention on the ground that it has become impossible to conduct free and fair elections..The matter came up for hearing before the First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose..In his petition, Anand has contended that many candidates have resorted to malpractices to win the Bar Council elections. He has attributed a fall in the legal community’s standards to the unruly occupying the very statutory body which regulates the standards of the community..He has therefore called for Judge Commissioners to be appointed to supervise the conduct of the BCTN elections this year..Reference has been made to the previous appointment of Justice KP Sivasubramaniam by the High Court, to oversee the State Bar Council elections in 2011. It has also been noted that, despite his best efforts, even Justice Sivasubramaniam had decried that the election could not be conducted in a free and fair manner. In this context, the petition states,.“It is pertinent that election to the year 2018 is foreseen to be in more dangerous path in view of the alarm raised by the learned Advocate General in his letter… What was then spent in lakhs was now in crores. Situation is further serious now and there is no mechanism to stop this.“.The petitioner has therefore prayed that the following measures be adopted to ensure free and fair elections:.One of more Judge Commissioners be appointed by the High Court to supervise the conduct of elections, as was done previously in 2011. Further, the judge commissioner(s) so appointed be directed to file a preliminary status report before commencing with the election process;A scheme be framed to carry out free and fair electionsThe High Court restrain the Special Committee from carrying out any function relating to the BCTN Elections..However, while hearing initial submissions on the matter, the Bench was informed that similar matters were already pending before the Supreme Court. Therefore, the question arose as to whether the Madras High Court could entertain the issue. The order passed by the Bench states,.“There can be no doubt that the elections to the Bar Council should be free and fair and also free from malpractices and corruption. The letter written by the Advocate General referred to in paragraph 10 of the affidavit in support of the writ petition is, indeed, alarming….…However, the question is whether we should pass any order at this stage when the Supreme Court is in seizin[g] of the election of the Bar Council and one of the Transfer petitions, i.e., Transfer Case (Civil) No.126/2015, is listed for hearing tomorrow (24.01.2018), as submitted by Mr.P.Wilson, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Bar Council of India/first respondent.”.Therefore, the matter was adjourned to next Monday so that clarification may be sought on this aspect..“Since the matter is posted for hearing before the Supreme Court tomorrow (24.01.2018), we deem it appropriate to adjourn this writ application till 05.02.2018 and await the clarification/direction of the Supreme Court as to whether we can proceed to pass orders as prayed for in the writ petition. Necessary leave and/or clarification in this regard may be obtained from the Supreme Court.”.In the letter referred to above, Advocate General for Tamil Nadu, Vijay Narayan had sought to dissociate the office of the AG from the conduct of the 2018 BCTN elections. He had cited apprehensions that the process may be tainted by certain malpractices. By the same letter, he had also suggested that a retired High Court judge be appointed to oversee the process..In a detailed response to the AG’s allegations, BCTN Special Committee members Senior Advocate R Singaravelan and Advocate Chandrasekharan had also indicated their assent to this proposal..In response, the Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday had announced the appointment of Justice (Retd.) GM Akbar Ali as Returning Officer to oversee the conduct of the BCTN elections, set to take place on March 28, 2018..Read copy of Writ Petition below..Read Order below.