In a fresh press release, Senior Counsel Y.R. Sadasiva Reddy has slammed what he called the 'political nomination' of the Karnataka State Bar Council's Chairman V.D Kamaraddi, accusing him of being a proxy for BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra.

Reddy's press statement, issued on August 24, challenged the legitimacy of V. D Kamaraddi, who had issued a press release on the same day, defending the BCI Chairman and attacking Reddy's standing as a former elected representative to BCI. Kamaraddi's support for Manan Kumar Mishra came after Reddy issued a statement on August 22 calling for Mishra's resignation.

Responding to Kamaraddi's support for Mishra, Reddy said :

“….The release does not come from an elected Chairman. Shri V.D. Kamaraddi was not elected to the office he holds. He was nominated by Shri Manan Kumar Mishra…His own release describes him as the 'administrator' of the Karnataka State Bar Council, awaiting the formal takeover of office by the newly elected Members.”

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The senior counsel also questioned the credibility of the KSBC release undersigned by Kamaraddi earlier on August 24:

“…A person nominated by the very office-bearer whose conduct is in question is not an independent voice, and a caretaker nominee is not well placed to speak of electoral mandate…"A release issued by a political nominee, in defence of the office-bearer who nominated him, is not the voice of the Bar of Karnataka. It is the voice of the person whose conduct is in question, conveyed through a person obliged to him for his office”, the press release reads.

Reddy revealed that such political nominations have been successfully challenged in other states such as in Kerala.

Suggestive of Kamaraddi's alleged political connections, Reddy further stated as below:

“….Shri Kamaraddi is a well-known adherent of a political party. He holds his office not by the vote of the advocates of Karnataka but by nomination, and that nomination was made by the Chairman of the Bar Council of India, who - as the very first paragraph of the release itself takes care to state - is a sitting Member of Parliament….”

Senior Counsel Reddy also accused Kamaraddi of being ignorant of BCI proceedings:

“Shri Kamaraddi has never sat in a meeting of the Bar Council of India. He has no means of knowing what I said or did not say in those meetings”, Reddy was referring to the imputation by KSBC that Reddy had endorsed the BCI decisions as its co-chairman without any objections for nearly a decade.

Reddy also refuted the allegation that he is merely a 'former member of the council' and not anymore, a Co-Chairman of BCI:

“….The general elections to the Karnataka State Bar Council have been held and the counting is complete. Until the new Council is constituted and elects its representative to the Bar Council of India in my place, I continue to hold office as a Member of the Bar Council of India and as its Co-Chairman.That the person who issued this release does not know the composition of the very body he purports to speak for is itself an answer to the question of how the release came to be issued, and on whose instructions”.

Reddy demands that the KSBC address the substantive issues which remain unanswered rather than attack his standing for levelling allegations.

“….I opposed the resolution for transfer of the Council's funds to the new trust when it was moved, and I placed that opposition on record. The minutes of that meeting will show it. Let them be produced. I would welcome nothing more…”

Reddy also highlights the legal flaw in the resolution which purportedly sought his removal from the BCI earlier:

“…Under the Rules of the Bar Council of India as amended, a State Bar Council has no power to recall or remove its representative to the Bar Council of India. That is precisely why no consequence followed from the resolution now relied upon….I did not continue in office at anyone's mercy. I continued in office because the Rules so provided”.

Further, the Senior Counsel also dismissed KSBC's allegation that his letter against Manan Kumar Mishra was politically motivated.

“...An institution that can answer a question by producing a document, and instead answers it by questioning the standing of the person asking, has told the profession everything it needs to know…”, the statement says further.

“…I have no personal quarrel with Shri Kamaraddi, and nothing I have said above is a reflection on him as an advocate. My concern is with the Bar Council of India, which is a statutory body holding funds contributed by lakhs of advocates. Let the Trust Deed be circulated to the Members. Let the minutes be produced. Let the staff position be placed on the Council's website. Let the accounts be audited by an independent firm empanelled with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. If that is done, the question of my standing will not matter in the least — and if it is not done, no press release will answer it”, the release by Reddy concludes.

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