State bar council gets 1st dalit chief since 1963

This could well be an impact of the Una flogging incident, the Bar Council of Gujarat on Monday elected a dalit as its chairman for 2016-17. City-based advocate Bharat Bhagat is the first dalit to be elevated to the top bar council post since its inception in 1963.

With uncontested victory of Bhagat and his other panel members for different posts in the bar council, the BJP has retained its dominance on the lawyers' body for 17 years now.

BCG's office bearer Anil Kella said, "It is indeed for the first time that an advocate belonging to the dalit community has got the top post in bar council, but there is no politics involved, neither is it linked to the Una flogging incident. Advocate Bhagat was chosen to contest for the post on a rotational basis. During his first term, he was vice-chairman of BCG."

Vadodara's Nalin Patel has been elected as vice-chairman along with advocate Kishorkumar Trivedi from Mehsana as chairman of executive committee, advocate Dipen Dave as chairman of enrollment committee, Dilip Patel as chairman of finance committee, Bakulesh Pandya as head of rules committee and senior counsel SV Raju and Anil Kella have been elected as chairmen of disciplinary committee.