Prashant Bhushan Resigns From Governing Bodies Of CPIL, Common Cause &Swaraj Abhiyan

Advocate Prashant Bhushan has resigned from the governing bodies of NGOs Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Common Cause and Swaraj Abhiyan.

Yesterday, he announced this in twitter :

People are asking if I have resigned from CommonCause, CPIL& Swaraj Abhiyan. I have resigned from the GBs of these since the BarCouncil was hounding me citing a rule that I can't appear in court for an Org if I am on its governing body.I will continue to do their cases&guide them

— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 16, 2019

Rule 9 of the Bar Council Rules On Professional Standards state that "An advocate should not appear in or before any judicial authority, for or against any establishment if he is a member of the management of the establishment". Citing this rule, the Bar Council of Delhi had issued notice to Bhushan on the ground that he had appeared for these NGOs in Court, despite being a member of their governing bodies.

During the hearing of a PIL seeking probe into the murder of Hiren Pandya, Justice Arun Mishra had asked Bhushan if his appearance for CPIL was not contrary to Bar Council Rules. Bhushan replied that he was appearing on pro-bono basis to pursue public interest, and not for any private interest of the organization.

As counsel of CPIL and Common Cause, Bhushan has appeared in several land mark cases such as 2G license scam, coal block allocation scam, CVC appointment, CBI Director appointment etc.