Bar Council of India chairman can’t issue gag order against advocates: Karnataka HC
The chairman of the Bar Council of India cannot pass a gag order that takes away the fundamental rights of an advocate, the Karnataka High Court ruled recently.
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In the interim, a gag order was issued against the advocates and KSBC members. (File)The Karnataka High Court has ruled that the Bar Council of India chairman cannot issue a gag order which would restrict the speech of advocates.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna on September 27 in response to a petition by S Basavaraj, a senior advocate of the Karnataka State Bar Council. Basavaraj had registered a criminal complaint against certain officers of the Karnataka State Bar Council (KSBC) regarding alleged misappropriation of funds for an event held in in Mysuru in August last year.
Subsequently, the Bar Council of India instituted a committee to look into several issues – Basavaraj’s allegations, the alleged defamatory material on social media against the KSBC office bearers, and the alleged financial irregularities by going through the documentation and holding an audit by a qualified chartered accountant.
In the interim, a gag order was issued against the advocates and KSBC members not to make any statements or spread information regarding the event which had allegedly included misappropriation of funds.
Basavaraj’s counsel argued that the Bar Council of India had no power to pass such an order, which would be violative of the fundamental right to free speech.
The bench observed, “The issue now would be, whether the chairman of the Bar Council of India is empowered to pass such gag orders against the fraternity of advocates at large, ordering them not to speak anything. This, on the face of it, would amount to imposing a restraint on the speech of the advocates.”
The court added that though the relevant statute gave the Bar Council of India power of general supervision and control over the state bar councils, this would not go to the extent of passing gag orders.
“The chairman of the Bar Council of India ostensibly cannot pass any such gag order which takes away the fundamental right of any advocate. The power of the courts either competent civil court or the constitutional court cannot be permitted to be usurped by the chairman of the Bar Council of India, as is done in the case at hand,” the court concluded.
The court then directed that the order directing restraint would be obliterated.
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