Alipore Bar Association Elections: Calcutta HC Directs State Bar Council To Take Decision On Eligibility Of Candidates Who Haven’t Cleared AIBE

The Calcutta High Court has directed the State Bar Council of West Bengal to take decision within six weeks on the eligibility of the candidates who have not cleared AIBE (All India Bar Examination) and their names are appearing in the voter list prepared by Alipore Bar Association.

A candidate who was desirous to contest the Alipore Bar Association Election had filed a writ petition and questioned the steps taken by the Bar Association regarding publication of final voter list and the gap which was maintained in terms of an election notice.

A Single Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya ordered, “The Bar Council of West Bengal is directed to take decision within six weeks from date on the eligibility of the candidates who have not cleared AIBE though their names are appearing in the voter list prepared by Alipore Bar Association and published on 25th January, 2024 after granting opportunity of hearing to the representative of Alipore Bar Association and one representative of these candidates and the decision to be taken by the West Bengal Bar Council shall be communicated to the parties within one week thereafter.”

Advocates Subir Sanyal and Lokenath Chatterjee represented the petitioner while Senior Advocate Joydip Kar and Advocate General Kishore Datta represented the respondents.

In this case, the petitioner candidate had questioned the final voter list which was published by the Bar Association as well as the gap which was maintained in terms of an election notice for submitting nomination papers. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the same was contrary to the observations made by the Bench in an order dated December 19, 2023.

It was further contended that as per the aforesaid order, Alipore Bar Association was required to maintain a gap of at least one month from the date of publication of final voter list and issuance of election notice which was not maintained in this case. A reliance was placed on the said order in which it was held in the context of election notice dated December 12, 2023 issued by Alipore Bar Association that seven days’ gap from the date of issuance of nomination papers till the date of submission is not sufficient for a person to participate in the election either as a voter or a candidate and to prepare himself and make himself available for such purpose.

The High Court in the above context of the case observed, “… it can safely be concluded that Alipore Bar Association has failed to maintain the gap from the first date of issuance of nomination papers till the date of submission of nomination papers as it is required to be maintained in terms of the order dated 19th December, 2023.”

The Court further said that it is surprising that even after publication of final voter list on January 25, 2024, another notice was published on March 4, 2024 permitting the candidates who have cleared membership fee upto October, 2023 to get their names inserted in the voter list by March 12, 2024 and such attempt on the part of Alipore Bar Association by issuing notice clearly vitiates publication of voter list on January 25, 2024 and it is found that preparation of voter list finally on January 25, 2024 is not sacrosanct.

“Therefore, based on the said voter list dated 25th January, 2024 it is not advisable to permit the concerned respondent to hold election on 19th March, 2024. Another issue which has cropped up during the course of hearing is the eligibility of the members of Alipore Bar Association whose names are appearing in the voter list published on 25th January, 2024 to exercise their franchise before clearing AIBE. Arguments and counter arguments have been made by the learned advocates representing the petitioner and Alipore Bar Association in support of their respective contentions for determination of the eligibility of these candidates who according to the petitioner are more than 400 in number”, it added.

The Court said that the issue of eligibility of some members needs to be settled once for all for which the same needs to be referred to the Bar Council of West Bengal for taking decision on eligibility of these candidates whether they have right to exercise their franchise or not since they have not cleared AIBE.

“After the issue is settled relating to eligibility of these candidates to participate in the election, Alipore Bar Association shall be at liberty to take decision for conducting election by following the observations and directions as contained in the order dated 19th December, 2023 passed by the coordinate Bench, expeditiously”, it directed.

Accordingly, the High Court set aside the election notice and disposed of the writ petition.

Cause Title- Subir Sengupta v. State of West Bengal & Ors.

Appearance:

Petitioners: Advocates Subir Sanyal, Srijib Chakraborty, Sukanta Chakraborty, Lokenath Chatterjee, Sukanta Ghosh, Falguni Banerjee, Arghya Chatterjee, Sankarshan Majumder, Pradip Kumar Mondal, and Surojit Mukherjee.

Respondents: Senior Advocate Joydip Kar, Advocate General Kishore Datta, Advocates Soumen Chatterjee, Anant Kumar Shaw, Arindam Sen, Mainak Ganguly, Soukleya Ganguly, Sankha Biswas, Abhinav Rakshit, Debabrata Saha Roy, Neil Basu, Amal Kumar Sen, Suman Ghosh, and Siddhartha Ghosh.

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