The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Wednesday decided to cancel the General Body Meeting, scheduled to be held tomorrow over proposed resolutions against Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kisan Kaul, for apologising to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud over a spat with SCBA chief Vikas Singh.
In a letter addressed to the members of SCBA, President of the Association Vikas Singh
The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Wednesday decided to cancel its General Body Meeting, scheduled to be held tomorrow, seeking to censure Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kisan Kaul, for apologising to Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud over a spat with SCBA chief Vikas Singh.
In a letter addressed to the members of SCBA, President of the Association Vikas Singh said the Executive Committee of SCBA, keeping in view the letter of former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and in the larger interest of the Bar, has decided to recall the Special General Body Meeting, proposed to be held on March 16
However, the Executive Committee of SCBA expected that any member of the Bar would refrain from making any statement contrary to the larger interest of the Bar, diluting the stand taken by the elected representatives of the Bar, he added.
He said the SCBA did not have any agenda against anyone. The organisation only wanted that nobody should dilute its stand.
As per Singh, the SCBA was bound to call a GBM, when a requisition signed by more than 150 members was given to it. There was no question of any number of members asking to recall the requisition. The members only had the right to vote against the resolution, he added.
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 Tuesday, former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had written a letter to SCBA President Vikas Singh advising him against the proposed resolution censuring Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul.
Venugopal 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. He 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.
Earlier in the day, SCBA chief Singh had refused to call off the meeting, stating that it was being called under the requisite Rules.
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.