SC stays Madras HC order on bar council polls in TN and Puducherry

The Supreme Court has stayed the Madras High Court order by which it had issued a slew of directions to ensure "free and fair election" to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry scheduled on March 28.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also stayed further proceedings in the matter before the high court but said the candidates must disclose their criminal antecedents.
"There shall be stay of the operation of the impugned order (of the high court). There shall also be stay of further proceedings pending before the High Court. However, any candidate who is contesting, shall disclose the criminal antecedents in the form that is going to be filled up," the bench said.

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had on February 16 quashed a Bar Council of India order deferring its approval to a resolution passed by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTP), laying down several conditions, including 10 years of continuous practice, for contesting these polls, three days after another bench had stayed the order.
Only members with wide exposure to various laws and sufficient years of standing in the Bar can discharge vital functions of the bar councils, the high court had said.
It had passed orders on pleas filed by some advocates before the Madurai Bench challenging the BCI order, deferring a resolution passed by the BCTP amending certain provisions for contesting the polls.

According to the petitioners, the BCI without approving the amended rules passed by the BCTP simply deferred the matter without taking a decision.