Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deprecated a police complaint filed against the members of the Election Committee constituted to conduct the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections.

The Court said that the police complaint was "absolutely unwarranted" and ruled out any sort of criminal prosecution against the EC members, saying that they were "extended arms" of the Court and acted bonafide without doubt.

The Court came down strongly on Senior Advocate Dr Adish C Aggarwala for making "scandalous" allegations against the Election Committee (EC).

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan was dealing with the SCBA election dispute as part of the SCBA v. BD Kaushik case, where it is considering issues pertaining to reforms in SCBA.

Initially, it passed a strongly worded order against the senior counsel, noting that his allegations were baseless and scandalous, and issued a warning to the Bar to not indulge in such mudslinging. However, subsequently, Aggarwala unconditionally withdrew his allegations and therefore, the bench did not pass any order on his comments.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria (member of the Election Committee constituted by the Court) submitted that recounting of votes for the post of President was carried out, which revealed that there was some discrepancy due to bonafide calculation error, but the result was not affected.

He further expressed that the EC members were hurt by their branding as "cricket team of Vikas Singh" (Senior Advocate and President-elect) and referred to the allegations levelled against the members by Senior Advocate Dr Adish C Aggarwala (who also contested for SCBA President). Hansaria also informed that a letter had been written to the SHO of a police station accusing the EC members of criminal conduct and expressed the apprehension that police officials may pay them a visit tonight.

The bench, which initially told Hansaria to not take anything Aggarwala says seriously, was seemingly perturbed on the mention of the letter to the SHO. Though Justice Viswanathan remarked in jest that the EC members were not known for getting scared by such things, the judge eventually assured that they were officers of the Court and the Court would ensure that nothing adverse happened to them on this count.

Justice Kant as well underlined that the Court had faith in the bonafides of the EC members, though they were appointed on suggestions of the Bar members. Voicing concerns about the allegations, the judge questioned, if there is such threatening and browbeating of Election Committee members, who will accept the task in future.

"It does not seem to be a case of hanky panky. We have no doubt EC has done commendable job. As a Court, we are thankful to them. They have acted like any independent tribunal would act", said Justice Kant.

Justice Viswanathan also commented that the task of the Election Committee is a "painful" one, inasmuch as the members have to keep their office work at bay for weeks to attend to election duties under strenuous conditions.

Senior Advocates Jitendra Madan Sharma and Mahalakshmi Pavani were the other members of the Election Committee.

Background

The recently concluded elections of SCBA courted controversy when some complaints were filed by members of the Association alleging irregularities in the manner of the elections' conduct. These included allegations of bogus voting and bias on the part of members of the Election Committee constituted by the Court.

On May 22, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan said that any member of the Bar who has a grievance regarding irregularities in the SCBA elections can approach the Court with proper material. While ordering preservation of the relevant CCTV footage, it also expressed that the Court would examine any allegation of gross illegality, including impersonation of voters, if substantiated with evidence.

The next day, the Court indicated that it would set aside the elections if satisfied that the allegations have merit. Yesterday, the Court was told that allegations regarding discrepancy between the total number of votes recorded for the post of President and the number of ballots issued were found to have weight. As such, the Election Committee was going to carry out recounting of the votes. The Court, on its part, said that recounting be done for the post of President as well as Executive Members.

Also from today's hearing - 'No Hany-Panky In SCBA President Election, Only Bona Fide Counting Error' : Supreme Court; Adish Aggarwala Withdraws Complaint

Case Title: Supreme Court Bar Association v. BD Kaushik, Diary No. 13992/2023