The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will convene its Special GBM on March 16 to consider resolutions seeking explanation from senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul for apologising to the top court after a heated exchange of words between the CJI and SCBA president Vikas Singh last week on allotment of land at Appu Ghar’ for lawyers’ chambers.
In its circular, the SCBA said its executive meeting was held on March 6 where it was decided to convene a special General Body Meeting (GBM) on March 16 at 4 PM on the Supreme Court lawns in view of the two requisitions signed by 235 members and 184 members of SCBA calling for an urgent GBM and to show solidarity with its president.
The explanatory note said, “The members of the Bar are extremely perturbed by what happened that day and have asked for a general body meeting signed by 184 members for considering resolution and second resolution signed by 235 members regarding the apology tendered by senior members of the bar without knowing the issue and without consulting anyone in the EC of the SCBA “
It said a resolution signed by 235 members will take up the issue of the members of the bar expressing complete solidarity with the stand taken by the SCBA president in Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s court with regard to the construction of chambers for lawyers on the land.
The second issue to be taken up includes, “Issue appropriate show cause notice to the concerned members as mentioned in the resolution demanding their explanation”.
The circular said the third issue to be taken up in the GBM includes — “any mentioning done by a member of the bar to belittle the stand taken by the SCBA in the judicial proceedings should be highly condemned and in future strict action be taken against such member”.
It said entry in the Supreme Court lawn for special GBM would be on showing the proximity card or SCBA membership identity card, and the voting would be done by the raising of hands.
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, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was present in the court for a Shiv Sena case, apologised to the bench on behalf of the bar and said, “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,”
The CJI said, “There is no reason to behave like this. We sit here the whole day and take up 70-80 matters in a day. For all these matters, I sit with my staff in the evening and give them dates.”
Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul also expressed apology and said, “We all join and feel equally anguished by what happened.”
On March 3, the CJI had skipped the ‘Holi Milan’ event organised by the SCBA where he was to attend the function as the chief guest.
