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The Court ruled that young professionals who cannot afford the price should wait because BCI does not currently have adequate funding to hold elections.
A challenge to the necessity of depositing ₹1.25 lakh to run in the Bar Council elections was denied by the Supreme Court on Friday [Manish Jain & Anr. vs. Bar Council of India & Ors.].
Bar Councils were already having trouble organizing resources for elections, according to a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi.
Justice Kant said, "They don't have the money to conduct the elections."
Today, the petitioner's attorney expressed worry that it was unjust to tie one's ability to pay for a bar election to one's eligibility to run. The idea that Bar Councils have financial limitations while holding elections was likewise rejected by the counsel.
He was against setting a fixed amount, such as ₹1.25 lakh, to exclude young advocates who might want to run for office within two or three years after entering the field.
There was no "tearing hurry" for young professionals who couldn't afford the cost to run for office, the Court said.
"Leave the young attorneys to wait." Judge Kant stated that there is no great haste to run for office.
The attorney maintained that a lawyer's ability to run for office should be determined by their reputation rather than their ability to pay.
Additionally, he said that a reforms committee had suggested against a system in which only individuals with "deep pockets" may run for office and that two High Courts were already looking into the matter.
However, the Bench did not budge.
Justice Kant informed the attorney, "Then you go there (to the High Court)."
Ultimately, the attorney attempted to withdraw the petition, which the court rejected as withdrawn.
The ongoing Supreme Court supervision of State Bar Council elections is the context for this development.
A bench headed by Justice Surya Kant ordered the Bar Council of India (BCI) on September 24 to make sure that all state elections are held by January 31, 2026, either all at once or in stages. Additionally, the Court stated that it will reevaluate the schedule in light of the BCI's status report, which is due on October 31.
Concerns regarding election delays prompted the Court to issue this decision; in numerous states, polls had not been held in over two years, according to counsel.
The Court at the time emphasized that members of the legal profession "would be waiting to participate" in these elections and asked the BCI to act within a strict timetable.
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