Ranchi, Sept. 5: The Ranchi District Bar Association is in a most unforgiving mood, as it feels that it was not given its due by senior advocate B.N. Roy.
Differences of opinion between the RDBA and a senior advocate, B.N. Roy alias Beeru Babu, surfaced today when 11 members of the RDBA executive committee tendered their resignations to its secretary, S.S. Ojha.
These members were unhappy with Roy, as he had settled the dispute between him and a banker, B.B. Palit, without taking the RDBA into his confidence. The executive members were of the opinion that Roy should have informed the RDBA about the status of the case, as the association had taken suo moto cognisance after Palit had slapped him on the court campus last Friday.
Suo moto, meaning “on its own motion”, is used when a body acts on its own cognisance in a matter.
“Roy has committed a blunder by ignoring the association. It was at the initiative of the association that none of the advocates in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Bundu and Gumla turned up before the court on Saturday to protest against the slapping incident. It was through the efforts of this association that the apex court of the state did not function,” said L.K. Giri, one of the members who tendered his resignation.
Secretary Ojha, however, did not accept the resignations. He has convened a meeting of the RDBA executive committee tomorrow.
“In the meeting we will discuss the issue of resignation of our executive members apart from discussing the entire episode of the Palit-Roy dispute,” he said.
There are 47 members in RDBA, including eight office bearers and 39 executive members. After the resignation of eleven members, it was supposed that a fresh election would take place. However, Ojha categorically ruled out any such possibility.
“Even if I accept the resignation of 11 executive members, there is no chance of a fresh election. The association will complete its remaining term of one year with the existing eight office bearers and 28 executive members,” Ojha said.
RDBA library secretary, Pradeep Nath Tiwary, and treasurer, Kundan Prakashan, expressed concern over the developments. “Dispute between advocates have tarnished the image of RDBA which has always worked for the cause of the legal fraternity. Roy has really committed a mistake,” both Tiwary and Prakashan said together.
Meanwhile, the court of chief judicial magistrate Ghanshyam Kumar Mallick granted bail to Roy and Palit as well as Roy’s associates Ravi Majumdar and Balmukund.
When Palit slapped Roy, he as well as his associates Majumdar and Balmukund had retaliated by hitting Palit back. Consequently, Palit had lodged FIR against Roy, Majumdar and Balmukund for attempting to murder him in the court campus, slapping Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code on them.
Roy, not be left behind, had lodged an FIR against Palit for stealing his spectacles and assaulting him within the court campus. Both FIRs were lodged on last Friday at the Kotwali police station.
The reason behind this physical assault was Palit’s unhappiness with Roy because he was suspicious about Roy’s involvement in the sale of his ancestral property with the help of a “forged” power of attorney.
A day after the incident, however, Palit apologised for his mistake through his maternal niece in the court campus. In an anti-climax, Roy also accepted the apology without demur. But Roy did not take the RDBA in its confidence, which had rallied behind him by taking a suo moto cognisance. And for this so-called insult, RDBA members are up in arms against Roy
