The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Secretary Ashok Arora has called for the removal of senior advocate Dushyant Dave from the post of president of the organisation and also from the primary membership of it, LiveLaw has reported. An “extraordinary meeting” was also called by the SCBA secretary regarding the same. The removal of Dushyant Dave was sought in connection with the resolution passed by the association in February condemning Justice Mishra for his remarks praising Prime Minister Modi.
Justice Mishra had called Narendra Modi a “versatile genius who thinks globally and act locally” in his speech delivering the vote of thanks during the inaugural ceremony of the International Judges Conference on February 22, 2020. Dushyant Dave has called the move demanding his ouster “illegal and improper”. In a message to the SCBA members, he said, “The entire exercise is illegal and improper. The EC has not decided to call any such meeting. So whole exercise is unfortunate and wrong. It will have no purpose nor can it achieve any objective except to tarnish reputation of this great body, SCBA. I am the President elected lawfully and will continue to serve you till my term is over. This attempt violates every cannon of procedure and law and has no legs to stand.”
The February Resolution by SCBA
The resolution passed by the SCBA in February condemning Justice Mishra had said, “The SCBA believes that the Independence of the Judiciary is the basic structure under the Constitution of India and that such independence be preserved in letter and spirit. The SCBA believes that any such statement reflects poorly on the Independence of the judiciary and so calls upon the Hon’ble Judges not to make statements in future nor show any proximity or closeness to the Executive including Higher Functionaries.”
The Revolt against Dushyant Dave
Members of the SCBA had condemned the resolution even then. 11 members had written a letter to the SCBA Secretary in the first week of March demanding the resignation of Dushyant Dave. “We the undersigned members of this esteemed SCBA were taken aback by the mischievous act of passing the above-said resolution dated February 26 at the behest of President of SCBA showing as if the resolution has the accent and consent of the entire SCBA, when the fact remains that no Executive Committee meeting was convened despite the request of the Secretary and other members of Executive Committee to discuss this issue in the Executive Committee meeting,” the letter stated.
“The conduct of the President is not only an act of maligning the image and reputation of the Apex Bar and also against the larger interest of the Bar because the first and foremost interest of the Bar is to have an appropriate place to sit for which 1.33 acres of land is yet to be acquired for the building of chambers. This land can only be acquired while working in tandem with the Govt functionaries. The act of the President and other members who signed the resolution will definitely invite the envy of the Officers who are in the helm of affairs of granting aforesaid acquisition and other beneficial schemes and projects,” they said.