Election Committee nominated for upcoming SCBA elections: Delhi High Court disposes of plea alleging interference by Executive Committee

The Delhi High Court, on Wednesday disposed of a petition concerning free and fair Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections after it was informed that the same would be conducted in the third week of February as per the procedure prescribed under the Rules (Abhinav Ramakrishna vs SCBA). .The Court was informed that an "Election Committee" comprising Senior Advocates Pallav Shishodia, Rana Mukherjee and Siddhartha Dave has already been notified by the SCBA in terms of Rules 17A of the SCBA Rules. .A single-judge Bench of Justice Prateek Jalan was hearing a petition filed by advocate Abhinav Ramkrishna, a member of SCBA. The petition alleged that there were "brazen attempts" by the Executive Committee, SCBA to interfere with the election process for the year 2020-21..Plea moved before Delhi High Court against interference by Executive Committee of Supreme Court Bar Association in election for 2020-21.As per the petitioner, the Executive Committee, SCBA was acting in violation of Rule 17 A of the SCBA Rules, which stated that the "Election Committee" was the sole authority in relation to the conduct of elections of office-bearers..The petitioner informed that an Election Committee under the chairmanship of Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta had taken a conscious decision to conduct the elections in virtual mode on January 29 using a platform like NSDL. However, after the commencement of the election process, the Executive Committee, SCBA passed a resolution stating that the election shall be carried out in a hybrid mode in the third week of February 2021, and the members of the Election Committee resigned. .Before the Delhi High Court, the petitioner inter alia prayed that an Election Committee be nominated at the earliest in accordance to Rule 17A..In view of the nomination of a three-member Election Committee on January 23, the petition was not pressed any further. .Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for the petitioner. Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam appeared for SCBA. .[Read SCBA Resolution]