The court held that the electoral roll was properly prepared and the appointment of the Returning Officer and Assistant Returning Officer was not arbitrary.

JUDGMENT

Rakesh Kumar Jain, J. - This order shall dispose of two petitions bearing CWP No.22377 of 2018 titled as "Minderjeet Yadav v. Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana and others " [for short `the 1st petition] and CWP No.22613 of 2018 titled as "Rameshwar Das Bishnoi and others v. Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana and another " [for short `the 2nd petition] as the issues involved in both the petitions are common.

2. The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana is a statutory body which finds its existence in section 3(1)(d) of the Advocates Act, 1961 [for short `the Act'] in which it is provided that "there shall be a Bar Council for the States of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to be known as the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana". The term of the office of the member of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana [hereinafter referred to as `the Bar Council'] is five years from the date of publication of the result of his election as provided in Section 8 of the Act. The last election of the Bar Council was held on 31.5.2013 and 1.6.2016 and the notification of its result was published in the official gazette of the States of Punjab and Haryana and Union Territory, Chandigarh on 1.7.2013, 9.7.2013 and 2.07.2013 respectively. The petitioner, in the 1st petition, was elected as a member of the Bar Council and remained its Chairman as well. The term of the Bar Council was to expire on 8.7.2018 but on 13.5.2018 a general meeting of the Bar Council was held and resolutions No.14(a) to (g) regarding the `Bar Council Election' were passed. It was resolved in Resolution 14(a) that Bar Council would comply with the provisions of Rule 4(1) of the Bar Council of India Rules by making wide publication of the notice in the prescribed form in the newspapers and gazette notifications etc. of the forthcoming elections and vide Resolution No.14(b), a sub committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of respondent No.3 for preparation of the electoral roll on the basis of the verification forms received from the advocates under the certificate and place of practice (verification) Rules 2015 [for short `the Rules of 2015']. It was also resolved in Resolution No.14(d) that the matter for seeking extension of term of office of the existing body of the Bar Council from the Bar Council of India, in terms of Section 8 of the Act, was taken up and considered. It was also resolved to issue letters/notices/SMS to advocates to submit their verification forms on or before the date fixed. The Bar Council of India granted extension of the term of the Bar Council vide its letter dated 17.6.2018 for a period of six months and also directed the Bar Council to hold the elections on 1st and 2nd November, 2018. The Bar Council issued an agenda for meeting dated 1.7.2018 in which relevant items were 7, 9 and 10 which read as under: -

"Item No.7. To consider the appointment of Returning Officer under Rule 35 of Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana Election Rules, 1968 and to authorize him/her to appoint observers for any Polling station which he consider necessary.

Item No.9. - To consider the appointment of Assistant Returning Officer/s to assist the Returning Officer in conducting the Election of the Bar Council.

Item No.10. - To consider and put up scanned copy of preliminary Electoral Roll, as well as, final Electoral Roll on the official website of the Bar Council duly signed by the Secretary on each page.

3. The meeting was held on 1.7.2018, as proposed, with the complete coram in which the following resolutions were passed: -

"Resolution No.7. - The appointment of Returning Officer under Rule 35 Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana Election Rules, 1968 and to authorize him/her to appoint observers for any Polling station which he considers necessary was taken up and considered. It was unanimously resolved that Sh. Gurinder Pal Singh, Advocate be appointed as Secretary-cum-Returning Officer under section 35 of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana Ele