Supreme Court Seeks Response On Challenge To Bar Council Election Restrictions

The Supreme Court issued notice to the Bar Council of India on a petition challenging the validity of the 2016 BCI Rules that barred office bearers of district and High Court bar associations from contesting State Bar Council elections.

The petitioner, the District Bar Association, Bulandshahar, argued that the restriction was arbitrary and discriminatory because officers of the Supreme Court Bar Association faced no comparable bar.

The Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi sought responses from the Bar Council of India and the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh but declined to grant interim relief, allowing the impugned rules to remain in force. 

[District Bar Association Bulandshahar v Bar Council of India]