Bar Council of India stays resolution to remove Advocate Ashok Arora from Secretary post; Dushyant Dave calls it illegal and unauthorized

On May 10, the Bar Council of India (BCI) passed a resolution and stayed the resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for suspending Advocate Ashok Arora from his position as the Secretary of the SCBA.

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave – President of the SCBA – has opposed the BCI’s order staying the resolution passed by the Association’s Executive Committee to suspend Advocate Ashok Arora and termed it as “illegal and unauthorized”. He also added that the BCI cannot exercise any supervisory jurisdiction over the SCBA.

Generally, the BCI does not interfere with the affairs of the SCBA. However, according to the BCI, the unanimous Resolution had to be passed in order to maintain the dignity and decorum of the institution and given that such incidents would have significant effects on the working of Bar Associations across the country.

The BCI went on to add that the dignity, prestige and honour of the SCBA have been eroded and damaged due to such events and infighting among the members of the Executive Committee. According to the BCI, it had to intervene as the rules, procedures and democratic values of the Bar had been flouted and needed to be set right.

The BCI added that Ashok Arora who was appointed as the Secretary of the SCBA by the whole general body of the Members of SCBA could not be suspended by the Executive committee comprising of similarly elected members. Thus, his suspension was stated to be illegal, arbitrary and against the principles of natural justice by the BCI. To this, Dushyant Dave responded sharply stating that the order of the BCI is illegal and unauthorized. He also stated that the BCI has no control over the Bar Associations which is governed by the Advocates Act, 1961 and that the order was outside the scope of section 7 of the Act. He further added that the order of the BCI did not deserve any respect and ought to be ignored by the SCBA.