Delhi HC Issues Notice To SCBA In Ashok Arora's Plea Challenging Executive Committee's Decision To Suspend Him As Secretary

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice in Advocate Ashok Arora's plea seeking quashing of his suspension from the post of Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) by its Resolution dated May 8, 2020.

A bench of Justice Mukta Gupta while issuing notice to the plea challenging suspension of Arora vide the Executive Committee's Resolution allowed a week's time to file replication and rejoinder and listed the matter for further hearing on August 6.

On May 8, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) suspended its Secretary, Ashok Arora, with immediate effect after the Executive Committee (EC) took this decision in a meeting.

Vide this Resolution, it was also decided that Rohit Pandey, the Assistant Secretary, will take over the roles and responsibilities of the Secretary.

This development came soon after Arora had circulated a message amongst SCBA members, in an attempt to convene an Emergent General Meeting (EGM) on May 11 to discuss the the removal of SCBA President, Dushyant Dave, from his post for passing a Resolution on February 25 condemning public remarks made by Justice Arun Mishra in praise of PM Narendra Modi. Arora had alleged that Dave is using the office of SCBA for political purposes and called for his removal from the primary membership of the Bar Association as well.

On June 5, SCBA issued a notice to Ashok Arora to show cause as to why ex-parte proceedings by a three-member committee should not be initiated against him for alleged imputations laid out in the notice.

Soon after being suspended, Arora had sent out a message to members of the Bar accusing the EC of intimidating him on different occasions and further alleging that Dave's conduct has brought disrepute to the Bar.

In an extraordinary move, the Bar Council of India intervened in the issue to stay the SCBA resolution suspending Arora. The SCBA responded to this by stating that 'BCI has no power to control Bar Associations'

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