'Last Chance': Supreme Court Asks Bar Council Of India To Dispose Off The Complaints Against Lawyers By December 31

Justice Krishna Murari: "Even if the complaint is false, just see where the advocates are hanging"

Justice Shah: "If somebody has committed misconduct, he should be punished. If he has not done anything, then he should be exonerated!"

Mr. Mishra: "Justice Krishna Murari would know how slack the UP bar council is. So many orders had to be passed against the bar Council of UP..."

Mr. Mishra: "We are requesting for 3 months..."

The bench then proceeded to dictate the following order- "An application has been filed for extension of time for compliance of order dated 1. 8. 2022 with affidavit and a chart reflecting state-wise numbers of cases pending enquiry. Having gone through the chart, it appears that in most of the cases/complaints where the enquiry is transferred to the bar Council of India, the concerned enquiry officers appointed by the bar Council of India have not submitted the report and consequently the respective complaints are not disposed off. Shri Manan Mishra, senior advocate and chairman of bar Council of India, prays for extension of time to complete the enquiry transferred to the bar Council of India by a further period of three months. He has also stated that the expeditious disposal of the complaints received by the bar Council of India and/or transferred to the bar Council of India and the hearing of the parties in the respective complaints shall be facilitated by having circuit benches in the respective states. As a last chance, we extend the time to dispose off the complaints received by the BCI or transferred to the BCI until 31 December 2022. The bar Council of India must decide and dispose off the complaints received by it and/or transferred to the bar Council of India from the bar councils of the concerned state where they were pending for more than one year and were required to be transferred in exercise of the power under section 36B of the advocates act. To have the discipline and maintain the purity of the profession, the complaints made by the concerned litigants are required to be disposed off at the earliest so that the litigants may continue to have faith in the justice delivery system and in the profession. One grievance which is raised by the applicant party-in-person is 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 is voiced with respect to the bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. Without expressing anything on the correctness of the statement, we once again reiterate our earlier orders and direct that for all concerned state bar councils Before whom Complaints are pending for more than one year shall stand transferred to the bar council of India. As ordered earlier, the bar Council of India must ensure the early disposal of those cases which are transferred and or deemed to have been transferred by our earlier order and the present order"