MHAA Elections: Madras High Court asks Teller Committee to file report on alleged booth capturing

The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Teller Committee of the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) to file a report by January 12 on the alleged incident of booth capturing during the association elections..A bench of Justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad also agreed to hear the grievances of all stakeholders on Thursday and said that anyone who wishes to file a petition related to the MHAA election issue could do so by then..On Monday, the election process to select the office bearers of MHAA began at 10 am as scheduled. However, around an hour later, some contesting candidates as well as other lawyers raised concerns and allegations of booth capturing. .The allegations led to much chaos with some lawyers staging a protest and shouting slogans at the venue. .The Teller Committee and the Bar Council of India (BCI) had on Monday approached the Bench led by acting Chief Justice T Raja to bring the issue to the High Court's notice. At the time, the acting Chief Justice had asked the Committee to file a petition if it wished the Court to intervene in the matter. .On Tuesday, however, the Committee members and some other lawyers mentioned the matter before the bench led by Justice Mahadevan, seeking an urgent hearing. .The bench then agreed to hear them on Thursday and added that the Teller Committee must file a report submitting details of the alleged incident by then. ."The Bench agreed to hear us on Thursday and said that if one wished to file a petition, one could do so," said advocate M Velmurugan, who was one of the lawyers who mentioned the matter. .In October last year, another Bench led by Justice Mahadevan had directed the MHAA to conduct its elections, which had remained stalled since 2018, within 90 days from its order.