Cuttack, March 27: Odisha State Bar Council (OSBC) has introduced a provision for removal of the chairman, vice-chairman and its representative to the Bar Council of India (BCI) by vote of no confidence. A proposal to this effect was passed recently.

OSBC chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra said the proposal specified that a no-confidence motion could be moved by at least 10 of the 25 members and could be passed by a simple majority of 13 members.

"The proposal will be sent to the BCI for approval and be made applicable after approval and subsequent gazette notification by the government," Mohapatra said.

The OSBC chairman also said the provision had not been adopted by any bar council in the country except in Delhi and Karnataka. He said while the former has a rule for passing a no-confidence motion against the chairman, vice-chairman and representative to BCI by two-third of its members, the latter has a three-fourth members rule.

The OSBC has been governed by the bye-laws and rules of 1989. "The rules committee of the council moved the proposal for change of rule, taking note of the absence of any provision for a vote of no-confidence," said Bibhu Prasad Tripathy, a member of the rules committee.

The council has 25 members elected for a five-year term and these members elect the chairman, vice-chairman and representative to the BCI. At the meeting of the council, three members were absent and as the chairman was the presiding officer, his vote was reserved for use in case of a tie. "The suggestion for simple majority rule for passing a vote of no confidence was included in the proposal as 15 of the 21 members voted in favour of it, while the remaining six votes was for two-thirds member rule," said Manas Chand, a member of the council.

At present, OSBC has over 47,000 advocates enrolled as members from 156 affiliated bar associations from across the state. The Advocates Act was enacted on May 19, 1961, in order to amend and consolidate the law related to legal practitioners and to provide for constitution of the autonomous bar councils across India and one for each state. Consequently, the OSBC as a statutory body came into existence in 1961. Apart from having 25 members, it has the advocate-general as the ex-officio member.