The Malaysian Bar will be holding its annual general meeting on March 20 according to schedule despite the close proximity of the date to the general election, which has been fixed for the following day.

Bar Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari said the date has been gazetted and cannot be changed regardless of the circumstances.

"The Legal Profession Act states that the AGM has to be held before April 1. In the event that there is insufficient quorum, the meeting will be postponed to the following week. There is no way we can adjust the date," he said when contacted yesterday.

Kuthubul acknowledged, however, that there is a possibility that insufficient members of the Bar would turn up to meet the minimum requirement for the meeting to proceed.

"There is a high quorum requirement. This year, we need at least 2,233 members so it is a bit difficult," he said. At present there are some 11,000 members of the Malaysian Bar.

Last year, the quorum was met thereby allowing the AGM to proceed.

Section 67 of the LPA states that the Bar must secure the attendance of at least one-fifth of its members to hold any general meeting, failing which it is entitled to reschedule another meeting a week later.

Although the Bar has repeatedly called for an amendment to the LPA to lower the quorum requirement, its appeals have been rejected by the government.

The issue came into sharp focus last October when the Bar failed in its attempt to hold an extraordinary general meeting to discuss a spate of controversial judicial promotions.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee AGM on Thursday had to be called off due to insufficient attendance.

The KL meeting has been rescheduled to take place next Thursday.

'Rigged' polls

On another development, Kuthubul said he will be filing an affidavit in reply "soon" in response to allegations made against him by rival and former Bar president Manjeet Singh Dhillon.

The two have been embroiled in a dispute over electoral discrepancies and mismanagement of Bar Council affairs allegedly committed by Kuthubul when he personally collected several ballots during the council's last elections.

Last week, Manjeet filed a lawsuit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the Bar Council's elections last November to be declared illegal.

In his affidavit, he accused Kuthubul of canvassing "certain candidates" and rigged the elections to deny him a place in the council.

The case has since been fixed for hearing next Thursday.

Asked to comment, Kuthubul would only say that his affidavit would be filed before the hearing date.

"Since the matter is before the court now, I will let the court decide," he said.