Election To Odisha State Bar Council To Be Held On April 15

Cuttack: After almost 9 years, the election to the Odisha State Bar Council (OSBC) will be held on April 15.

According to an official notification, the aspiring candidates can file their nomination papers from March 1 to 6. Scrutiny of the nominations will be conducted from March 7 to 10, while the withdrawal of the nomination papers will be done between March 11 and 17. Following the election on April 15, the counting of votes will be held on April 21.

As per the affidavit filed by OSBC earlier in the Orissa High Court, Justice Pramath Patnaik, a retired high court judge, will be the returning officer for the election.

The affidavit filed by OSBC secretary Jajati Samantasinghar on February 18, in pursuance to an order issued by the court on September 28 last year, stated that it would publish the final voter list on or before February 23 and conduct elections within the next 60 days. A division bench comprising Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman had said the returning officer will fix the date of the polling.

Advocate members of 180 Bar associations elect 25 members to the OSBC’s Council for a five-year term and the members elect the chairman and vice-chairman. The Bar Council of India (BCI) had extended the council’s term after it expired in May, 2019. After an extended six-month term expired in November 2019, the BCI had constituted a special committee to carry forward OSBC.

With advocate general Ashok Parija (who is the ex-officio member of OSBC) as chairman, the committee has been managing the State Bar Council affairs since November 5, 2019.

As the OSBC election was last conducted in 2014, advocate Chinmay Mohanty, a former OSBC member, filed a petition seeking the high court’s intervention.