Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Disqualify BCI Chairman Manan Kr Mishra From Rajya Sabha

The Supreme Court today rejected a challenge to the Delhi High Court's dismissal of a plea seeking to disqualify Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra from Rajya Sabha.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order, finding no grounds to interfere with the order of the High Court, except to the extent of imposition of cost on the petitioner. Exempting the petitioner from the deposit of the cost of Rs.25000/- imposed by the High Court, the top court ordered,"In our considered view, no case to interfere with the impugned judgment of the High Court is made out. The SLP is accordingly dismissed. However, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, the impugned order imposing cost of Rs.25000/- on the petitioner is set aside. The petitioner is exempted from the cost amount, with the hope that he will not indulge in filing frivolous petitions."Despite the matter being called out twice (on two separate occasions), the petitioner-in-person remained unrepresented.Briefly put, petitioner-Amit Kumar Diwakar, an Advocate, approached the High Court seeking Mishra's disqualification from Rajya Sabha, on the ground that while holding the office of Chairman of BCI, which is a statutory body, Mishra cannot simultaneously serve as a sitting member of Rajya Sabha.For context, Mishra was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He was the candidate of NDA.Dismissing the plea, a Single Judge bench of the High Court said that Diwakar bypassed the mechanism for challenging elections as outlined in the Representation of the People Act. It added that Diwakar neither being an elector, nor a candidate in the election in question, lacked the necessary locus standi to initiate an election petition.The High Court further said that Diwakar's attempt to seek a writ of mandamus directing the Union Ministry of Law and Justice to initiate steps to disqualify Mishra was misplaced.“The disqualification under Article 102(1) cannot occur automatically, solely based on certain allegations or presumptions. It necessitates a formal inquiry and a reasoned determination, as prescribed by the Constitution."While imposing a cost of Rs.25000/- on Diwakar, the High Court concluded,"the present petition not only lacks merit, but is also an abuse of the legal process, aimed at circumventing the proper remedy. Accordingly, the petition is dismissed with a cost of Rs. 25,000/-, to be deposited by the Petitioner with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority within four weeks from today.”Case Title: AMIT KUMAR DIWAKAR v. UNION OF INDIA, Diary No. 51788/2024 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Disqualify BCI Chairman Manan Kr Mishra From Rajya Sabha

Debby Jain

Tags