Parija elected Bar Council chairman

The Bar Council of India has elected senior advocate Ashok K. Parija from Orissa as its chairman to succeed the former Solicitor-General, Gopal Subramaniam.

Senior advocate and Bar Council member from Madhya Pradesh Zafar Ahmed Khan has been elected as vice-chairman.

At a meeting held on Sunday, member from Tamil Nadu, S. Prabhakaran, objected to the procedure being followed for the election. Mr. Prabhakaran told The Hindu that he raised objection as the meeting was convened mainly to discuss the modalities for the election of chairman and vice-chairman. He said there was no agenda for the conduct of elections, as there must be a 15-day notice. He requested that a fair and transparent procedure be followed and a date be fixed. He said his stand was endorsed by members from Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Since the dissent note was rejected, they walked out.

However, BCI officiating secretary J.R. Sharma said the elections were held as per the Council rules. The dissent by Mr. Prabhakaran was recorded.