The Bar Council of India (BCI) has threatened "collective agitations" to seek the transfer of "judges found to be indulging in serious irregularities and malpractices undermining institutional balance and public confidence".
The unusually stinging threat is in the form of a letter addressed by BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant in protest against the warning issued by Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas of Kerala High Court on January 23 that he would order a probe into the activities of the council, the official regulator for lawyers and legal education in the country.
Justice Thomas was dealing with a petition filed by an advocate challenging the BCI's decision to enhance the nomination fees for state Bar council elections from ₹5,000 to ₹1.25 lakh.
Responding to the threat, Mishra said in the letter: "BCI has chosen restraint… However, when such restraint is reciprocated not with mutual respect but with reckless and baseless attacks on the Bar Council of India and other elected bodies of advocates, the council cannot remain a silent spectator.
"Its silence does not imply weakness or as acceptance of attempts to tarnish the image of the apex elected body of advocates. If such attacks persist, the advocates through their representative bodies shall be constrained to resort to lawful collective protest and agitation and to pursue appropriate constitutional and legal measures for proper action, including seeking administrative measures, including transfer of judges found to be indulging in serious irregularities and malpractices undermining institutional balance and public confidence."
The letter added: "The Bar Council of India reiterates its highest regard for the judiciary and its continued commitment to uphold the institution, and it is hoped that mutual respect and restraint will continue to guide the constitutional relationship between the Bar and the Bench. This letter is being sent with the approval of the General Council of the Bar Council of India."
The BCI noted that Justice Thomas chose to make such an observation even though the Supreme Court was monitoring the elections to all state Bar councils and had also restrained high courts and other courts from entertaining election-related petitions of the state Bar councils.
"The Bar Council of India is the apex statutory body representing advocates across the country. It has consistently acted with restraint, responsibility and respect towards the judiciary, and on innumerable occasions has defended the institution of the judiciary whenever its independence or credibility was under strain, not as an act of convenience but as a conscious institutional choice rooted in constitutional propriety.
"...That silence must not be misunderstood as acquiescence or treated as a licence to subject the elected representative bodies of advocates to unwarranted attack," Mishra wrote.
The letter to the CJI also said: "...The Bar Council of India most respectfully requests your Lordship to consider issuing such advisories or directions as may be deemed appropriate to ensure that election-related matters remain confined to the exclusive mechanism constituted by this hon'ble court, and that judicial restraint is exercised to avoid unnecessary conflict and counter-productive institutional consequences."