Former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal on Tuesday wrote to Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh advising him against the proposed resolution censuring Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul, for their apologising to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud over a spat with Singh.
Venugopal advised Singh not to go ahead with the resolution as it would divide the Bar. He told the SCBA chief that he has received a letter addressed to the SCBA seeking withdrawal of the proposed resolutions (b) and (c) of the SCBA circular dated March 7, 2023.
Venugopal said the apology made by both Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul was, as stated in the letter, to maintain cordial relations between the Bar and the Bench.
The former Attorney General said instead of signing the letter and having thought over the matter, he chose to write a letter to Singh.
Venugopal said the passing of these resolutions could result in creating two factions in the Bar, which may permanently sour the peaceful relationship which existed today amongst the members of the Bar.
He further said that he has been a President of the Supreme Court Bar Association on three occasions, and on each occasion, he had found differences similar to this arising at the Bar.
The former Attorney general said he was sincerely requesting Singh not to allow these two resolutions so that this event may not explode into a situation where there may be two camps with enmity between the members inter se, which may not be conducive to the peace and well-being of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Venugopal suggested to Singh to consider placing this letter before the Executive Committee of SCBA and also before the General Body Meeting, if so advised, so that the resolutions B and C could be withdrawn.
More than 470 advocates had written to the SCBA not to go ahead with the resolution. Venugopal said the letter has been endorsed by many senior bar members, however, he chose to write to Singh, advising him to desist from moving such resolutions.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has constituted a Special Bench to hear on March 17 the SCBA plea seeking directions to the Centre to convert the entire land measuring 1.33 acres that was recently allotted to the Supreme Court of India, into chamber blocks for lawyers.
The Bench of CJI Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice P.S. Narasimha will hear the matter on Friday.
The SCBA Executive Committee had earlier decided to hold a Special General Body Meeting on March 16, at 4:00 pm on the Supreme Court Lawns to pass a resolution expressing solidarity with its President and Senior Advocate Vikas Singh.
The meeting was also likely to consider another resolution seeking explanation from Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul, who had apologised to the CJI for Singh’s statements in the Apex Court.
On March 2, CJI Chandrachud had come down heavily on the SCBA chief for repeated insistence on listing of the petition that sought a direction to the Ministry of Urban Development to convert the entire land measuring 1.33 acres that was allotted to the Supreme Court into chamber blocks for lawyers.
Singh repeatedly insisted on urgent listing of the plea, contending that the matter had not been listed for six previous hearings and the same happened on March 2 as well.
The CJI told Singh that it would be listed in the ordinary course, however, the SCBA chief threatened to escalate the matter and even suggested protesting outside the residence of the CJI over the same. This led to an angry exchange of words between the CJI and Singh, after which the former told the latter to leave the courtroom immediately. Following this, Sibal and Kaul had apologised to the CJI on behalf of the Bar.
After the CJI agreed to list the case on March 17, Singh sought that the case be listed as item number 1.
The post Former Attorney General KK Venugopal writes to SCBA chief Vikas Singh, asking him not to go ahead with resolutions against Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, NK Kaul appeared first on India Legal.
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