Even as a writ petition seeking introduction of ‘One Bar, One Vote’ rule for all lawyers litigating in different Bars of Odisha is pending disposal in the Orissa High Court for over a year now, the Odisha State Bar Council on Wednesday announced that the ‘rule’ as pronounced by the Supreme Court will be implemented in all the 167 Bars of the State, including that of the High Court.
Odisha State Bar Council chairman Chinmay Mohanty said the ‘One Bar, One Vote’ rule is part of a guideline set by the Supreme Court in 2015 to identify the number of genuine advocates practising in different courts of the country. “The rule allows multitude of memberships of different Bars, yet it gives only one voting right to an advocate,” he said.
“All the Bar Associations of the State will be provided with their respective voters’ list indicating the individual advocate’s choice of Bar to participate in the annual elections to form its executive body,” Mr. Mohanty said.
Explaining the details of the procedure, senior member and former chairman of the Council Manas Mohaptra said that the present executive councils of all Bars in the State shall officiate only up to October 2018.
