Jurisdiction of Bar Council and Societies Registration Act, 1860

JUDGMENT :

VIPIN SANGHI, J.

Issue notice.

Counsel for the respondents appear and accept notice.

2. The present special appeals are directed against the common order passed by the learned Single Judge, in Writ Petition (M/s) No. 2507 of 2022, Writ Petition (M/s) No. 2043 of 2022, and Writ petition (M/s) No. 284 of 2023. The two appeals before us have arisen out of WPMS No. 2507 of 2022, and WPMS No.284 of 2023.

3. The impugned order reads as follows :-

“Mr. Ravi Babulkar, Mr. Vikas Bahuguna & Mr. Siddhartha Sah, Advocates for the petitioners.

Mr. Piyush Garg, learned counsel for respondent No. 1.

Ms. Manisha Bhandari, learned counsel for respondent No.2.

Mr. Narayan Dutt, learned Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand.

Since common questions of fact and law are involved in these petitions, therefore, these petitions are clubbed together and decided by this common judgment. However, for the sake of brevity, facts of WPMS No. 2507 of 2022 are being considered. By means of this writ petition, petitioner has sought the following relief:-

(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 01.09.2022 passed by respondent no. 1 (contained as Annexure no. 1 to this writ petition)

(ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 14.09.2022 passed by respondent no. 2 (contained as Annexure no. 3 to this writ petition)

(iii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents not to take any coercive measure against the petitioner.

Petitioner held Office of President, Pachhuwadoon Bar Association for three years i.e. 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2020-21. He has challenged an order passed by Chairman, Uttarakhand Bar Council, on various grounds.

Learned counsel for the parties are unanimous that the dispute can be resolved if the matter is relegated to the Chairman, Uttarakhand Bar Council. In such view of the matter, without going into the merits, writ petitions are disposed of by permitting petitioners to approach Chairman, Uttarakhand Bar Council by making application for revocation of impugned order(s), within three days from today. If such application is made within stipulated time, Chairman, Uttarakhand Bar Council is requested to reconsider the issue and pass appropriate order, as per law, within ten days from the date of filing such application(s). Till decision in the matter by the Chairman, election process shall not be notified by the concerned Bar Association.”

4. A perusal of the impugned order gives the impression that the same is an order passed by consent. However, on a little deeper scrutiny, what emerges is, that the action of the three parties concerned before us, namely, the appellant–Bar Association; the two respondents – writ petitioners, who are the ex-President Shri Sandeep Kumar Bartwal, and ex-Honorary Secretary Shri Amit Kumar Chauhan of the appellant-Bar Association; the Chairman, Bar Council of Uttarakhand, and the Bar Council, itself, have completely misdirected their respective actions leading to taking of decisions, and passing of orders, which are either without jurisdiction, or in violation of the principles of natural justice. A complete hochpoch has been created due to the actions of all the parties, and our endeavour is to untangle the same.

5. It appears that the tenure of the Executive Committee of the appellant-Bar Association came to an end in the year 2022, and a resolution was passed by the Bar Association on 12.04.2022 to extend the tenure of the Executive Committee by one year. The two writ petitioners are the ex-President and the ex-Honorary Secretary of the same Bar Association. The ex-President of the Bar Association being aggrieved by the delay in conduct of the elections for constitution of the fresh Executive Committee, approached the Uttarakhand Bar Council, making a grievance with regard to the elections not being conducted by the Executive Committee in office.

6. F