Lawyers Stand Up Against BCI’s Show Cause Notice to Dushyant Dave

The Association has asked the BCI to withdraw the notice, citing Dave’s fundamental right to freedom of speech.

The Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association on Friday decided to support Supreme Court advocate Dushyant Dave, who has been served a show cause notice by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for his statements on Justice Patel's resignation from the Gujarat High Court.

The Association has asked the BCI to withdraw the notice, citing the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

A livelaw report, which accessed the resolution passed by the Association said that the resolution read:

Certain statements made by Mr Dave in the program are duly protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India unless the court concerned takes it as contempt of court. It such statements are viewed by any statutory authority other than the superior court to be scandalous or contumacious, it has no power or jurisdiction to take action. Moreover, now in contempt proceedings, truth is also allowed as a valid defence. [sic]

The resolution also observed that transfers are necessarily administrative in nature, and cannot be attributed to the overall judiciary.

The Association's resolution comes after Dave in NDTV's show 'Left, Right and Centre', condemned Justice Patel's transfer from the Gujarat High Court to the Allahabad High Court, hitting out at the functioning of the collegium. He had called Patel's transfer as the 'darkest day in Indian judiciary'.

Collegium has been making thunderous sounds about independence of judiciary. They wrested control of judicial appointments from executive under the garb of freeing the judiciary from political interference, but that is precisely what is happening today.

Dave has been vociferous in his support for Patel's elevation as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, or any important high court in the country, keeping in view his seniority.

In an article for The Wire, dating back to 16 March 2017, he had pointed out Patel's seniority over four of the five appointees to the Supreme Court. He also condemned the collegium's preferred nine candidates for the post of CJI, all of whom were junior to Patel.

Echoing the Association's demand for the BCI to withdraw the Dave's show cause notice, Supreme Court advocate Namit Saxena said:

Regarding apprehension of the BCI that this is attempt to malign image of judiciary and the institution, it is extremely painful and shocking to note that the Bar Council, which is presumed to be custodian of the bar in one sense has misunderstood the situation.

Justice Patel resigned from the Gujarat High Court earlier this week after he was transferred to the Allahabad High Court, where he was deputed the position of the third-most senior judge, despite his seniority. His resignation has drawn serious reactions from across the judiciary.