Institute of Legal and Management Studies

While hearing the Supreme Court Bar Association election dispute, the Supreme Court yesterday rapped an advocate over his police complaint against members of the Court-constituted Election Committee which conducted SCBA elections.

The Court warned that if he fails to appear in-person on the next date, coercive action will be taken.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta was dealing with the issue as part of the SCBA v. BD Kaushik case, where a bench comprising Justices Kant and KV Viswanathan is considering issues pertaining to reforms in SCBA.

On May 27, the Court had ruled out any foul play in the elections to the President post. At the same time, it was perturbed by the police complaint, filed by Advocate Dr Mukut Nath Verma, against the Election Committee members. Therefore, the Court called on the counsel to appear before it on May 29, after observing that the complaint was "absolutely unwarranted."

For context, this complaint was filed before Police Station Tilak Marg naming Election Committee members & Senior Advocates Vijay Hansaria, Jitendra Mohan Sharma and Mahalakshmi Pavani. It claimed that the EC members got candidates unfairly elected to the post of SCBA President and others for oblique motives, and as such, an investigation was required.

Yesterday, Verma appeared and showed an apprehension regarding physical appearance, saying, "main Supreme Court Bar Association ke Office Bearer ke [...] Samvidhanik sansthoan ko nasht karne ke liye kaam kar rahe hain, jinke against main fight kar raha hun. Mujhe kisi tarah ka nuksaan na pahoncha dein ye log, isliye main nahi aa paya aaj".

Justice Kant however asserted that he would have to appear physically: "Aap batayein kis din aenge yahan? Aapko aana padega, warna hume bulana aata hai" (You tell us when you will come to Court? You will have to come, else we know how to call you here).

The judge further questioned the advocate if he had filed the subject complaint, dated 26.05.2025, before PS Tilak Marg. When Verma answered in the affirmative, the bench directed that he file an affidavit taking responsibility for filing of the same as well as stating that the contents thereof were correct as per his knowledge.

"Ek affidavit file karo ki ye complaint aapne file ki hai, fir hum batayenge aapko ki complaint file karne ka kya matlab hota hai! (File an affidavit that you have filed this complaint, then we will tell you what filing a complaint means!)", Justice Kant told Verma.

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