The Bench of Justice MR Shah and Krishna Murari granted time to the Bar Council of India to dispose of all the complaints against lawyers by 31st December, 2022. It is to be noted that it is an extension of time since earlier also the Supreme Court had directed the BCI to do the same by its judgment dated 17.12.2021 taking into consideration Section 35 and 36B of the Advocates Act. The direction of the Supreme Court came on a contempt petition listed before the bench headed by Justice Shah. Senior Advocate and Chairman of Bar Council of India Manan Kumar Mishra defended the stand of the Bar Council and prayed for the extension of time.

After hearing the Senior Advocate, the Court passed an order "Shri Manan Kumar Mishra, learned Senior Advocate and Chairman of Bar Council of India prays for extension of time to complete the inquiries/complaints transferred to the Bar Council of India by a further period of three months. He has also stated that for expeditious disposal of the complaints received by the Bar Council of India and/or transferred to the Bar Council of India and to facilitate the parties, the hearing of the respective complainants shall be conducted by having Circuit Benches in the respective States. As a last chance, we extend the time to dispose of the complaints received by the BCI and/or transferred to the BCI up to 31st December, 2022. The BCI must decide and dispose of the complaints received and/or transferred to the BCI at the earliest keeping in mind that as such before the Bar Council of the concerned States, the complaints were pending for more than one year and they were required to be transferred in exercise of power under Section 36(b) of the Advocates Act, 1961."

The Bench emphasized on the issue of discipline and purity of the profession and held that "the complaints made by the concerned litigants are required to be disposed of at the earliest so that the litigants may continue to have the faith in the profession and in its system."

The Court also directed the transfer of the pending applications to the Bar Council of India from all the Stat Bar Councils which are pending for more than one year. The bench passed the order "One another grievance which is voiced by the applicant/party in person that despite the fact that the complaints are pending for more than one year, the concerned State Bar Councils have not transferred the cases to the Bar Council of India. The grievance which is voiced is with respect to Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. Without expressing anything on the correctness of the statement, we once again reiterate our earlier order and direct that all concerned State Bar Councils, before whom the complaints are pending for more than one year from the date of filing shall stand transferred to the Bar Council of India, as ordered earlier. The Bar Council of India must ensure an early disposal of those cases which are transferred and/or deemed to have been transferred by our earlier order and the present order."

Case Details:-

CONMT.PET.(C) No. 309/2022 in C.A. No. 7478/2019
CHARANJEET SINGH CHNDERPAL Petitioner(s)
 VERSUS
VASANT D. SALUNKHE & ORS. Respondent(s)

Read theComplete Order:-

https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/11829/11829_2022_7_1_38680_Order_29-Sep-2022.pdf