Election eligibility hinges on timely dues payment; provisional inclusion in electoral lists doesn't confer voting rights.

JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Narula, J. (Oral)--In the backdrop of forthcoming elections for the Executive Committee of the Delhi High Court Bar Association ["DHCBA"] scheduled for 29th September 2022, Petitioners in W.P. (C) No. 13027/2022 (Mr. S.C. Malhotra) and W.P. (C) No. 13030/2022 (Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Singh), who are members of the DHCBA, are aggrieved with deletion of their names from the list of eligible voters. They seek time to pay their outstanding dues in terms of rules/resolutions/guidelines/constitution of the DHCBA, and to be included in the electoral roll. Petitioner in W.P. (C) No. 8197/2022 (Mr. Rajiv Khosla) is seeking implementation and strict compliance of the judgment dated 31st May, 2016 and order dated 18th October, 2016, both in W.P.(C) 8106/2010 titled P.K. Dash, Advocate & Ors. v. Bar Council of Delhi & Ors., as well as of the extant rules and regulations of DHCBA, in light of which, he seeks directions to DHCBA to: (i) follow the mode of payment of subscription for voting rights; (ii) constitute Election Commission as per the directions in P.K. Dash (supra); and (iii) conduct elections in a timely manner.

2. Counsels for DHCBA and the Election Commission have handed over some documents containing the election schedule, resolutions and notices of DHCBA, and brief submissions - all of which are taken on record. Considering the common grounds urged, afore-noted documents shall be treated as part of the record in each of the cases.

FACTS

3. The factual background of the present dispute is as follows:

3.1. On 06th August 2022, a list titled: `Consolidated Provisional List Of Eligible And Ineligible Advocates/Voters Of The DHCBA Election, 2022' was notified by the Election Committee of DHCBA [hereinafter, "Provisional List"]. List-A annexed thereto contained tabulated particulars of 9173 members with a `yes'/`no' against their name in the last column titled `Whether provisionally entitled to vote'. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Singh was at serial number 7173 and Mr. S.C. Malhotra was at serial number 4111, with a `yes' against their names.

3.2. As per resolution of the DHCBA dated 09th August 2022, cut-off date for payment of arrears of subscription till 30th June 2022, was fixed as 22nd August 2022 upto 5:00 P.M. [hereinafter, "cut-off date"].

3.3. Thereafter, on 26th August, 2022, a list titled: `Final List for the forthcoming DHCBA Election-2022' was issued by the Election Committee of DHCBA, which was uploaded on the Delhi High Court website on 30th August, 2022 [hereinafter, "List dated 26th August 2022"]. The said list was accompanied with: (i) a cover letter dated 26th August 2022, signed by the Election Committee, (ii) Annexure A containing the findings of the Committee qua 824 objections received by it to the Provisional List, (iii) Annexure-B titled: `Consolidated List Of Eligible And Ineligible Advocates/Voters Of The Delhi High Court Bar Association Election-2022' containing tabulated particulars of 9173 members with a `yes'/`no' against their name in the last column titled `Whether entitled to vote'. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Singh was at serial number 7173 and Mr. S.C. Malhotra was at serial number 4111, with a `yes' against their names.

3.4. On 29th/30th August, 2022, after verification of clearance of dues by the Election Commission, a list of 6444 voters, titled: `List Of Eligible Advocates/Voters Of The Delhi High Court Bar Association Election-2022' was uploaded on the website of DHCBA [hereinafter, "List dated 30th August 2022"]. In this list, the names of Mr. S.C. Malhotra and Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Singh did not feature at all.

3.