O.S.A. Nos. 122, 123, 148 and 149 of 2011. Case: V.N. Subramaniam Vs Tamil Nadu Advocate's Associationrepresented by its Secretary M. Baskar and Ors.. High Court of Madras (India)

Judgment:

R. Banumathi, J.

1. Being aggrieved by the common impugned Order dated 18.4.2011 in Application Nos. 1739 and 1740 of 2011 filed by Mr. Elephant G. Rajendran and Application Nos. 2184 and 2185 of 2011 filed by Mr. N.S. Ziauddeen in C.S. No. 7 of 2011, wherein and by which the learned single Judge interdicted the six elected members viz., Mr. K.R.R. Aiyappamani, Mr. N. Marappan, Mr. K. Kathiravan, Mr. P. Paramasivam, Mr. V.N. Subramaniam and Mr. S.K. Vel from exercising their voting rights as members of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and re-constituting the Election Tribunal and also directing the above six elected members to face enquiry before the re-constituted Election Tribunal, five elected members (except Mr. K. Kathiravan) have preferred these appeals. Being aggrieved by the order denying investigation by Crime Branch, C.I.D. in respect of alleged corrupt practices during the Election of Bar Council, Mr. Elephant G. Rajendran filed O.S.A. No. 154 of 2011.

2. The suit -C.S. No. 7 of 2011 arises on the following facts:

   The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu is a statutory body created under the Advocates Act, 1961 with statutory rights and obligations. As per Section 3 of Advocates Act, there shall be a State Bar Council. As per Section 3(3) of the Act, there shall be a Chairman and Vice-Chairman of each State Bar Council elected by the Council in such manner as may be prescribed. As per Section 8 of the Act, the term of office of elected member of a State Bar Council shall be five years from the date of publication of the result of his election.

3. The last election to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu was held on 20.9.2005 and the Council was constituted on 12.10.2005. The term of office of the State Bar Council expired on 11.10.2010. In terms of the provisions of Section 8 of the Advocates Act and by virtue of resolution No. 77 of 2010 passed by the Bar Council of India, the term of office of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu was extended for a period of six months with effect from 12.10.2010. On the strength of the said extension, the State Bar Council convened a meeting on 23.12.2010 and passed resolutions fixing the date of election to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on 4.3.2011. By another resolution, special committee comprising of five senior advocates of High Court viz., Mr. G. Masilamani, Mr. M. Raveendran, Mr. S.V. Jayaramn, Mr. M. Venkatachalapathy and Mr. T.V. Ramanujam were appointed to scrutinise and monitor the conduct of the ensuing election with power to issue suitable instructions for the conduct of free and fair election and also power to nominate any number of advocates. To assist them in the conduct of elections., three advocates viz., Mr. T.V. Krishnakumar, Mr. S. Muthukrishnan and Mr. K. Mahendiran were appointed as Election tribunal as contemplated by the Rules. By 4th resolution, Bar Council of Tamil Nadu resolved to hand over the administration of the State Bar Council to the Advocate General with a power to sign the cheques and operate the Bank accounts jointly with the Secretary. The election notification was issued on 27.12.2010 and the same was published in Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Part VI - Section 1, No. 51-A. The notification was also published in the news papers on the following day and Press Release was issued by the Advocate General on 30.12.2010 confirming the election schedule and the appointment of the Secretary to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu as the Returning Officer.

4. The 1st Respondent - Tamil Nadu Advocates Association is registered under the Societies Registration Act with Registration No. 98/2008. In the plaint in C.S. No. 7 of 2011, the 1st Respondent/Plaintiff Association alleged that in the earlier election held in 2005, the election was marred by unprecedented malpractices and gross irregularities were committed by many contesting members. Stating that Plaintiff Association is interested in ensuring a free, fair and transparent election for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu to be held in March, 2011, the suit has been filed by the 1st Respondent/Plaintiff represented by its Secretary seeking interalia various directions.

5. Pointing out that inspite of appointment of Committee in the previous elections, there were irregularities in the conduct of free and fair elections, on 12.1.2011, the learned single Judge passed an elaborate order appointing Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam (Retired) as a Commissioner to oversee and monitor the elections to the State Bar Council. In the said order dated 12.1.2011, the learned single Judge interalia issued various directions as to: (i) printing of ballot papers; (ii) taking ballot papers to the respective polling stations; (iii) conduct of elections; (iv) involving judicial officers in the Districts and moffusal in nominating an independent observers and to receive ballot papers and sending them back to Madras with police protection and (v) directions as to the transportation of boxes containing polled ballot papers to Chennai and other directions.

6. By the Order dated 2.2.2011, learned single Judge issued further directions involving the judicial officers in the conduct of election to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Detailed reference to various directions may not be necessary. Suffice it to note that the election to the State Bar Council was held on 4.3.2011 under strict vigil. The Judge - Commissioner has strictly monitored the conduct of election and the elections were held in strict compliance of the directions of the learned single Judge and also by the Judge-Commissioner. Excepting the stray incidents, the elections were held in free, fair and transparent manner. The counting of votes had commenced on 9.3.2011 and completed on 2.4.2011. The 25 members viz., (1) Mr. K.R.R. Aiyyappamani, Advocate, Salem, (2) Mr. P.S. Amalraj, Advocate, Chennai, (3) Mr. S. Prabakaran, Advocate, Chennai, (4) Mr. R. Arunachalam, Advocate, Coimbatore, (5) Mr. N. Marappan, Advocate, Karur, (6) Mr. R.K. Chandramohen, Advocate, Trichy, (7) Mr. K.K.S. Jayaraman, Advocate, Kancheepuram, (8) Mr. K. Kathiravan, Advocate, Gingee, (9) Mr. V. Karthikeyan, Advocate, Thanjavur, (10) Mr. K. Rajarajan, Advocate, Virudhunagar, (11) Mr. M. Velmurugan, Advocate, Chennai, (12) Mr. P. Paramasivam, Advocate, Salem, (13) Mr. V.N. Subramaniam, Advocate, Erode, (14) Mr. V. Yuvaraj, Advocate, Krishnagiri, (15) Mr. T. Michael Stanis Prabhu, Advocate, Tuticorin, (16) Mr. A. Natarajan, Advocate, Chennai (17) Mr. N. Sampath, Advocate, Cuddalore, (18) Mr. E.T. Rajendran, Advocate, Madurai, (19) Mr. D. Selvam, Advocate, Chennai, (20) Mr. M. Varadhan, Advocate, Chengalpattu, (21) Mr. K. Veluchamy, Advocate, Madurai, (22) Mr. S.K. Vel, Advocate, Namakkal, (23) Mr. K. Ranganathan, Advocate, Puducherry, (24) Mr. G. Thalaimuthurasu, Advocate, Madurai and (25) Mr. Ariyalur Annasamy Venkatesan, Advocate, Chennai were declared elected as members of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu. Advocate General has certified the list of elected candidates. As per Rule 34 of the Election Rules of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu, the list of elected members was published in the Tamilnadu Government Gazette on 5.4.2011.

7. As per the order in Application No. 450 of 2011, 4th Respondent - Mr. Elephant G. Rajendran was impleaded as 3rd Defendant. The 4th Respondent/3rd Defendant filed applications - A. No. 1244 of 2011 to implead Mr. Chandramohan, former Chairman of Bar Council as 4th Defendant and A. No. 1245 of 2011 seeking for a direction not to allow Mr. Chandramohan to contest the elections to be held on 4.3.2011. The learned single Judge ordered both the applications. On the orders in A. No. 1244 of 2011, Mr. Chandramohan was impleaded as 4th Defendant and in A. No. 1245 of 2011, the learned single Judge directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu not to permit Mr. Chandramohan to assume office and discharge the functions as elected member of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the event of his being declared successful till the disposal of the disciplinary proceedings by the Bar Council of India or till he obtains appropriate direction from the Apex Court,which ever is earlier. The said order was the subject matter of challenge in O.S.A. Nos. 78 and 79 of 2011 and both the appeals came to be dismissed by us by the judgment dated 9.4.2011.

8. Certain malpractices were reported in Nagercoil and Padmanabapuram of Kanyakumari District. On the report filed by the Polling Observers and Judge - Commissioner, earlier, by common order dated 8.3.2011 made in Application Nos. 450, 1205, 1244 and 1246 of 2011, the learned single Judge has invalidated the votes polled at Nagercoil and Padmanabapuram. The applications filed by Nagercoil Bar Association in A. No. 1600 of 2011 and the Padmanabapuram Bar Association in A. No. 1628 of 2011 came to be dismissed on 23.1.2011, which was the subject matter of appeal before us in O.S.A. Nos. 88 and 98 of 2011. Both the appeals were dismissed by us by the judgment dated 9.4.2011.

9. Our earlier judgments in the above appeals would have little relevance. We are referring to those appeals only to narrate the background facts.

10. The factual background of filing of Application - A. Nos. 1739 and 1740 of 2011:

    As pointed out earlier, the counting of votes commenced on 9.3.2011 and completed on 2.4.2011. The 4th Respondent - Mr. Elephant G. Rajendran filed the applications in A. Nos. 1739 and 1740 of 2011 stating that he received letter/affidavits from some of the Advocates from the State - (i) Smt. Aruljothi of the Bhavani Bar stating that one of the contesting candidates contributed Rs. 1 lakh to Bhavani Bar Association; (ii) one Mr. M. Siva Suresh of Mettupalayam has sworn to an affidavit to the effect that one of the contesting candidates by name Ayyappamani distributed gold coins and Rs. 3,500/- to the voters; (iii) an Advocate by name Mr. G. Muniyandi of Mettupalayam has sent his sworn affidavit stating that one Mr. K.P. Narayanan...