Senior advocate Kapil Sibal elected as SCBA president

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal was on Thursday, 16 May, elected as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

The elections of the association were held on Thursday.

Besides Sibal, senior advocates Adish C Aggarwala, Pradeep Kumar Rai, Priya Hingorani and advocates Tripurari Ray and Neeraj Srivastava were contesting for the post of SCBA president.

According to sources, Sibal secured over 1,000 votes while Rai got over 650 votes.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Sibal was the additional solicitor general of India during 1989-90. He was designated as senior advocate in 1983.

Between 1995 and 2002, the former minister in the Congress-led UPA government served three times as SCBA president.

The apex court had earlier directed that some posts in the executive committee of the SCBA be reserved for women members.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and K V Vishwanathan had said it was of the view that the SCBA is a premier institution and is an integral part of the highest judicial forum of the country.

It had directed that there shall be reservation for women members of the Bar.

The bench had said in the upcoming 2024-2025 SCBA polls, the post of treasurer of the executive committee be reserved for women.

On Sibal getting elected to the post of SCBA president, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Kapil Sibal has just been elected as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association by a landslide. This is a big win for liberal, secular, democratic, and progressive forces."

"This is also, in the outgoing PM's words, a trailer for the changes that will happen very soon nationally. The soon to be former regime's legal drumbeaters and cheerleaders must be shocked," he said.