New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the suspension of Ashok Arora from the post of Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
“No prima facie case is made out,” said a single-judge bench of the high court presided by Justice Mukta Gupta while pronouncing the order.
The court was hearing a suit filed by Arora seeking to stay the resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the SCBA.
In May this year, the Executive Committee (EC) of the Supreme Court Bar Association suspended its Secretary Arora with immediate effect in a meeting held through an online conference.
The decision to suspend him was taken by the EC a day after Arora had called an emergent general meeting (EGM) of the lawyers’ body on May 11 to deliberate on the removal of senior advocate Dushyant Dave from the post of SCBA President.
The EGM was cancelled by the EC and a three-member panel has been set up to examine the allegations leveled against Arora, said a senior official of the SCBA. The decision of the EC to suspend Arora was taken by the majority, and Dave abstained from voting.
The friction emerged among the top office-bearers in the SCBA over the statement made by Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Mishra on February 22, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the International Judicial Conference 2020.
On February 25, Dave had issued a “resolution”, allegedly signed by several members of the SCBA expressing anguish over Justice Mishra’s statements. Arora had claimed that no resolution was passed, as he did not sign the statement released to the media.
“The SCBA believes that the independence of the judiciary is the basic structure under the Constitution of India and that such independence be preserved in letter and spirit,” said the resolution.
