No Elections, No Justice: Telangana Advocates Raise Voice Against 5-Year Delay in Bar Council Polls
Hyderabad:
The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) of advocates has raised a strong protest against the failure to conduct elections to the Bar Council of Telangana, whose term expired more than five years ago.
In a representation addressed to the President of India, the JAC highlighted that the prolonged inaction amounts to a gross violation of the Advocates Act, 1961, which mandates timely elections to ensure democratic functioning and accountability within the legal profession.
Leading this movement, JAC Chairman Ponnam Ashok Goud, along with Co-Chairman A. Ravinder Reddy, Convenor Abhilash Ashrith B., and Convenor Sai Reddy Mamilla, have been consistently voicing the concerns of thousands of advocates across Telangana. They stressed that the continued absence of elections is not just an administrative delay but a direct denial of the democratic rights of lawyers.
“The continued functioning of the Council without elections reflects a serious lapse in governance. It undermines the regulatory structure and strikes at the very foundation of professional self-regulation envisaged by law,” the JAC leaders remarked.
The Committee has urged the urgent intervention of the Union Government and the Bar Council of India to:
* Immediately initiate and complete the election process for the Telangana Bar Council.
* Ensure that such violations do not recur in any State Bar Council across the country.
The JAC team affirmed that they are determined to continue their fight until elections are conducted, asserting that only a democratically elected Bar Council can safeguard the integrity and independence of the legal profession.
