A Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sen Gupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar on Friday made it clear that till a separate High Court for Telangana State was established a separate Bar Council could not be functional. The current Bar Council will continue with enrolment, disciplinary proceedings, etc. The bench was passing these interim orders in a writ appeal filed by the Bar Council of India.
It may be recalled that Venkat Narayana, a practising advocate of the High Court from Khammam district, and another person filed writ petitions seeking immediate formation of Bar Council for advocates belonging to Telangana State.
He challenged the letter issued by the Bar Council of India which permitted the undivided AP Bar Council to continue with enrolment, while maintaining two separate registers for advocates who enrol from the two States.
The single judge had declared that the Telangana Bar Council is deemed to have been formed on June 2 and asked the Bar Council of India and the governments to take steps to see that it starts functioning. This was challenged before the bench. The bench posted the main appeal for final hearing after two months and passed interim orders.
The bench said that the advocate generals of the two States should be ex-officio members of the current Bar Council. The bench observed that the creation of the Bar Council of Telangana would arise only after a separate High Court for the State of AP was constituted.
