HC asks state bar council to submit details of bar polls

The Orissa High Court on Thursday asked the Odisha State Bar Council to furnish in detail as to how the council is planning to conduct the forthcoming elections of different bar associations of the state. Hearing at least three writ petitions in this connection, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq adjourned the matter to be adjudicated again on July 10. Last year, for the first time the elections to form executive bodies of different bar associations, were held simultaneously on one day on March 30.

The elections under "one bar one vote" were held for all the 167 bar associations of the state, including that of the High Court Bar Association. The terms of the elected executive bodies have since expired for over two months now. Seeking the intervention of the high court, at least three writ petitions were filed with a common prayer to issue directions to the State Bar Council for holding elections of the bar associations as soon as possible. The bar council, however, has not been able to hold the elections so far in view of the Covid-19 guidelines and the accompanying lockdowns and shutdowns.

The Orissa High Court last year hearing similar petitions, had made it clear that the annual elections of the bar associations should be held simultaneously on one day and preferably by March-end every year.