"Suit is Withdrawn, All Questions Of Law Shall Remain Open": Supreme Court Disposes Ex SCBA Secy. Ashok Arora's Plea Against His Suspension

The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed off SCBA's erstwhile Secretary Ashok Arora's plea against his suspension as having become infructuous, while observing that "all questions of law shall remain open".With feuding leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association consenting for a settlement, the Delhi High Court had on Friday closed a suit filed by Arora challenging the decision of the SCBA to suspend him from the post of secretary, observing that when the bar gets divided, it also weakens the bench which gets strength from lawyers. When Arora's SLP came up before the bench headed by Justice A. M. Khanwilkar on Tuesday, Arora submitted, "The settlement has been given to the High Court. The EC (Executive Committee of the SCBA) is not pressing the suspension resolution. The term is also over, so there is no hurry. The suit is over, but if Your Lordships feel like, you may resolve the law point- the High Court order has gone beyond the EC meeting. The High Court held that the President can suspend the Secretary. This may create a problem for all bar associations and societies""You have withdrawn the suit? Now listen to the order we are passing", observed Justice Khanwilkar."The suit stands withdrawn. So this SLP is disposed off as infructuous, leaving the questions of law open", the bench recorded in its order.The Supreme Court had last Thursday adjourned the special leave petition filed by Arora against the Delhi High Court order wherein his plea seeking a stay on his suspension from SCBA was rejected.A Bench of Justices Khanwilkar and BR Gavai heard the matter and allowed Arora to argue in person. However, due to audio issues, the Court adjourned the plea to Tuesday.In Thursday's hearing, Arora submitted to the Court that he wanted to argue in person. To this, the Bench responded that as Arora was an advocate of the Supreme Court, he should have been aware of the practices. "You are advocate of this Court. You know the practice. You should discharge your advocate. Don't get involved. This is not the correct procedure. If you have engaged an Advocate-on-Record, first discharge him and then address us", directed the Bench. Arora sought for permission to make a statement on the same. As the AOR agreed to make a statement for the discharge, the Court dictated an Order whereby they allowed Arora to argue.Arora then commenced his submissions and stated that the entire of sequence of events was "disgusting". "Before I go to the impugned order, I need to point out one incident in the sequence of events. They are so disgusting. The interim relief I want is that the suspension is continuing", averred Arora. He brought to the fore the issue that despite his suspension, the letterhead of the SCBA showed his name as "Hony. Secy. Ashok Arora (Under Suspension)". "This is defamatory and humiliating", noted Arora. The Bench asked Arora to take up the matter with SCBA and request them to remove the name from the letterhead.Arora then recounted the event of February 22nd – "Mr. Dave. insulted the President and the Prime Minister of India by boycotting the function organized by the Supreme Court. When this happened, a letter was signed seeking for his removal as the SCBA head. 410 people signed it."It was submitted by Arora that the Emergency General Body Meeting which had been called by him was done so according to the Rules which empowered the Secretary to call such a meeting. "Since 410 members made a request to the Secretary, citing that Dave had insulted the PM, President and foreign dignitaries, I was empowered to call the meeting", said Arora. The Bench asked Arora for the suspension notice, however, due to the audio issues, the matter could not proceed and was adjourned to Tuesday.On Friday, Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the Delhi High Court passed an order putting an end to the proceedings after both the parties -- Arora and SCBA President Dushyant Dave -- consented for a settlement.When you get divided like this, it does not go down well in the bar," the judge said adding that "I feel at the end of the day, the bar and the bench belong to the same fraternity. If you get weakened, the bench gets weakened. We get strength from you.Justice Shakdher, who suggested parties to settle the issue, also recorded that since the term of the current executive committee (EC) of SCBA comes to an end on December 14 and the elections for constitution of a fresh panel are expected in mid-January, 2021, the SCBA will not take the suspension resolution further.It also noted that since Arora's term as secretary of SCBA comes to an end, he has made a statement that he would not participate in the EC proceedings henceforth.The court also said that Arora's suspension will not come in the way of his participation in fresh elections.Arora said he will withdraw all legal proceedings initiated by regarding his suspension.Earlier in October, another judge of the high court had refused to grant interim relief of staying the SCBA resolution to Arora. The ...

"Suit is Withdrawn, All Questions Of Law Shall Remain Open": Supreme Court Disposes Ex SCBA Secy. Ashok Arora's Plea Against His Suspension

Mehal Jain

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