The big battle, but for what?

THE COUNTDOWN for the big battle has begun. The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) election is just three days away. The warriors are out, wielding weapons they can lay their hands on to slice off chunks of the coveted sugar ball.

THE COUNTDOWN for the big battle has begun. The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) election is just three days away.

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The warriors are out, wielding weapons they can lay their hands on to slice off chunks of the coveted sugar ball.

And the one who wins the sugar ball's biggest lump will be crowned the next king. Not necessarily a kind of king we read about in history books to whom service to his people was the sine qua non of his royal 'dharma'. But a king who will be driven by self-interest and self-promotion, debunking the canons of ethics and fair play, if need be.

This soiled image of the office of Bar Association president has not come about overnight. Over the years, Bar polls have been rolling down deep into the debris of muck and filth. Soul and sensitivity have taken an appalling retreat.

So, the stink of money, manipulation and casteism, though nauseating, provokes no resistance now! Winning the position of president, irrespective of fair or foul means adopted, guarantees a windfall -- clout, political connections, and a very lucrative law practice.

Poll promises made to ameliorate the working conditions of Bar members, or to fight for justice and dignity of lawyers are dumped into the dustbin. The winner’s agenda for self-gratification is all that rules the roost.

Disgust is quite explicit on the faces of some junior and senior lawyers this columnist talked to. The Bar Association, they grumble, has degenerated; it has become an instrument used and misused for serving the cause of those who win its influential offices.

The coming election is just a battle again for those who know that the Association is a route for creating a niche for themselves in the profession, or in politics.

“If service to the Bar were the key motivation, why tons of money go into the election for the key posts?” asked a junior lawyer.

Nonetheless, a Bar poll does bring its own fun and excitement. Happy nights are again in the offing for a large number of lawyers, looking for a spicy and inebriating change to wash out the drudgery of work, or no work. Late night free drinks and dinners are now mandatory, even though it does not ensure that the hosts would be necessarily victorious.

Lawyers — they could be in thousands — flock at these parties, and they are counted as solid supporters of the host.

But it proves deceptive, for the same lawyers are seen also at a rival's drink and dinner party! Such free fun does not come everyday. So why lose it wherever available!

As for the key post of president, there were three candidates, to begin with, all Brahmins CL Pandey, Viresh Mishra, and Sadhna Upadhaya. But on the last day for filing nomination papers jumped into the fray a non-Brahmin, Veer Singh.
His calculation is that Brahmin votes will be divided among the three Brahmin rivals, and all anti-Brahmin lawyers, fed up with the Brahmin hegemony for years, will polarise to gift him victory on a platter.

Veer Singh's entry has made interesting the earlier lacklustre, exclusively Brahmin-centred fight for presidentship; the earlier belief that a visibly potential Brahmin contestant will win seems to be somewhat dissolving. Some stuff finally for suspense and juicy speculations!

As for yet another key post of secretary, the battle between Rakesh Pandey and CP Upadhyaya seems to be getting close. Rakesh Pandey fought well for the same post last time. This time he is in an upbeat mood.

Meanwhile, Chandu Tripathi, vying for the office of secretary, wants that the right to vote should belong to all 9,000 Bar Association members rather than to only those whose dues were paid by them or, on their behalf, by the moneybags among the contestants to buy over their votes.

His writ petition is likely to come up before the appropriate Bench on Monday. Chandu’s is a welcome move; it seeks to invoke much-needed judicial initiative to clean up the dirt from under the roof of the world's largest High Court. But is what he wants judicially feasible? One has to watch out.