Supreme Court bar assn calls off meeting to discuss apology to CJI

The executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday decided to call off the general body meeting scheduled for March 16 to vote on resolutions seeking explanation from senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul for apologising to CJI DY Chandrachud on behalf of the bar body.

The senior lawyers had apologised to the top court after a heated exchange of words between the CJI and SCBA president Vikas Singh on allotment of land at 'Appu Ghar' for lawyers' chambers.

The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of the SCBA Executive Committee earlier in the day.

In its circular, the SCBA said it received an email dated March 14, 2023, from a few senior advocates with some other names, without any relevant details as to their SCBA membership number, mobile phone number, signature etc. seeking withdrawal of the proposed resolutions.

It said a letter dated March 14, 2023, written by senior advocate and former attorney general for India KK Venugopal was also received, referring to some letter addressed to the SCBA seeking withdrawal of the resolutions.

The circular also noted the Chief Justice of India has acceded to the request made by the SCBA president and constituted a special bench comprising himself, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice PS Narasimha to hear the petition filed by the bar body pertaining to allocation of land.

"In view thereof, resolution 'A' stands fulfilled and thus the executive committee of SCBA has decided to call off the special general body meeting which was to be held on Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 4:00 pm in the Supreme Court Lawns with regard to Resolution 'A'. 

"The executive committee of SCBA has no personal agenda against anyone and is only concerned with the stand of the Bar not being diluted before the judges. The executive committee of SCBA was duty bound to call for a general body meeting when a requisition in that regard was received by the secretary, SCBA, duly signed by 150 members of SCBA," the circular said.

The bar body said as per rules, no member, individually or collectively, has a right to ask for withdrawal of a particular resolution but, the only right that a member has, whether individually or collectively, is to vote for/against the resolution at the time of the general body meeting.

"The executive committee of SCBA, keeping in view the letter of K K Venugopal addressed to the undersigned and in the larger interest of the bar, has authorised the undersigned to write a letter to the bar regarding the decision of the executive committee to recall the notice for the general body meeting," the circular, signed by Vikas Singh, said.

"The executive committee of SCBA, however, expects that any member of the bar may refrain from making any statement contrary to the larger interest of the bar, diluting the stand taken by the elected representatives of the bar, ie, the executive committee of SCBA," the bar body said.

On March 2, a heated exchange of words was witnessed in the Supreme Court between Justice Chandrachud and Singh over allotment of land for lawyers' chambers, with the CJI directing the senior lawyer not to raise his voice and leave the court.

During the mentioning of cases, the SCBA president told a bench of CJI and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala that he was struggling to get the matter listed for the last six months.

As the mentioning of the cases ended, Sibal, who was present in the court, apologised to the bench on behalf of the bar saying: ”I'm sorry for what happened this morning. I apologise. There is a Lakshman Rekha that none of us should cross. I don't think that the bar should transgress the limits of decorum.”

Kaul also apologised and said, ”We all join and feel equally anguished by what happened.”