HC stays Madras Bar Association election
The Hindu
It failed to verify certificates of practice of its members with BCTNP
The Madras High Court on Friday stayed the Madras Bar Association (MBA) election, scheduled to be held on August 21. The interim order was passed on the ground that the association failed to verify the certificates of practice of its individual members with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) before finalising the voters’ list. Justices N. Kirubakaran and R. Pongiappan pointed out that every Bar association was required to get the certificates of its members verified with the Bar Council before publishing the voters’ list. However, in the case of the MBA election, a list of 787 eligible voters had been finalised even before their certificates of practice could be verified, the judges said. Advocate L. Chandrakumar filed a writ petition challenging the MBA’s decision to conduct the election despite the threat of a third wave of COVID-19 looming large. His counsel told the court that there was no tearing hurry to conduct the election at such a juncture when an ad-hoc committee had been managing the affairs of the association well.The Shakti Scheme in Karnataka has completed its first year, yet the smart cards intended for the beneficiaries remain undistributed. According to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, while the smart cards have been prepared, their issuance has been stalled due to the absence of electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) in all buses, making them impractical.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.