K N SUBBAREDDY Vs. ADVOCATES ASSOCIATION BANGALORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Writ Petition is filed seeking several directions from the Court for proper conduct of elections to the Advocates Association of Bangalore. Notice was ordered to the Association. The Association was represented by a counsel. In fact, on coming to know of the said Writ Petition, Advocates in large number were present in Court at the time of hearing of the Writ Petition and made several submissions for proper conduct of the elections.

(2.) AFTER hearing the learned members of the Bar, this Court appointed Sri. Nanjunda Reddy, senior counsel and Sri. N.S. Prasad, Advocate, as returning officers., to take appropriate steps to conduct the elections on 22.03.2009. A Committee to monitor the elections resolve any dispute which may arise in the conduct of elections, was constituted by appointing Sri. B.V. Acharya, the former Chairman of the Bar Council of Karnataka and former Advocate General, as its Chairman. Directions were issued to finalise the voters list, conduct elections by using Electronic Voting Machine except to the post of Councilors of City Unit of the Advocates Association and for video graphing entire process of polling. In fact, the Returning Officers suggested a Model Code of Conduct which was agreed by all the Advocates and the Code of Conduct was also adopted. Accordingly, everything was well set for conducting the elections on 22.03.2009.

(3.) IN order to appreciate the controversy in a proper perspective and to ensure a free and fair elections, the Court suggested to the members to place their views in writing, pointing out the deficiencies and their suggestions, so that appropriate orders could be passed for conducting the fair election. IN the mean while, upset over the incident which transpired on 22.03.2009, the President of the Association, Sri. D.L. Jagadish, submitted his resignation, a copy of which is placed on record. Thereafter, Advocates have filed their written submissions before the Court. Some of them have filed applications for impleading them in the proceedings. All of them were heard. Learned Senior Counsel Sri. Jayakumar S. Patil, Sri. K. Subba Rao, Sri. S.P. Shankar, Sri. S. Shekar Shetty, made their submissions. About 36 Advocates also made their submissions. Two lady members of the Bar were also heard.