State Bar Council chief unseated through no-confidence motion

Of the 25 members, 14 voted against him for bad English

The Karnataka State Bar Council on Sunday adopted a resolution expressing no confidence in its chairman , Anandkumar Appu Magadum and removing him from the position with immediate effect.

Of the 25 members, 14 voted in favour of the resolution.

According to the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which is with Deccan Herald, 13 members attended the meeting held in the Council office, while another member who remained absent, declared his support for the motion through a letter.

Neither the chairman nor the vice chairman turned up for the meeting even 20 minutes after the scheduled hour. Fourteen members, irked by the ‘poor command over English’ of their chairman, had submitted a memorandum on March 31, 2012, demanding the latter to call a meeting.  Since there was no response from the chairman, the members had directed the secretary to convene a meeting on Sunday.

According to the minutes, the members at the meeting noted that Magadum was not able to properly read out the farewell and welcome speeches of former Chief Justice Jagadish Singh Khehar and Chief Justice Vikaramajit Sen, respectively. He could not even properly read the speech, which invited criticism from advocates and brought disrepute to the Council.

The members noted that Magadum had “totally failed to discharge his duties as chairman in the day-to-day administration of the Bar Council”, and, hence, is incapable of holding the office.

They said Magadum did not call for a meeting in the wake of the court boycott call given by Advocates Association, Bangalore, following the unsavoury incidents at City Civil Courts complex on March 3.

The very existence of the Council paled into insignificance because of the incompetence of Magadum, according to the minutes.

In the absence of the chairman and vice-chairman, it was resolved that Jayakumar S Patil, a member, would preside over the meeting.

The resolution adopted by the meeting declared that no- confidence motion against Magadum had been passed unanimously by all the 13 members, and Magadum stands removed and ceases to be the chairman of the Council with immediate effect.

This is for the first time in the 51-year history of the Bar Council that its chairman has been removed through a no-trust motion.