The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a State Bar Council cannot suspend an advocate’s licence as an interim measure while disciplinary proceedings are still underway.
A division bench comprising Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary held that suspension contemplated under Section 35(3) of the Advocates Act, 1961, constitutes a final disciplinary order and cannot be imposed midway through an inquiry.
The ruling came in a case concerning Akhilesh Jaiswal, President of the Central Bar Association, Civil Court, Lucknow, and Avnish Dixit, its Secretary. Their licences had been suspended by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh while proceedings against them were pending.
The High Court examined an order passed by the disciplinary committee on September 26. The order had adjourned the matter for hearing on October 11, but at the same time directed that the advocates remain suspended until further orders.
The Bench also noted that the order did not indicate whether the advocates had been supplied a copy of the complaint, despite their request for the document.
The Court found the indefinite suspension legally unsustainable and relied, among other considerations, on a previous Madras High Court ruling which held that a Bar Council could not impose an interim suspension pending completion of disciplinary proceedings.
The Bench observed that the procedure adopted by the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council was not consistent with the scheme of the Advocates Act.
Consequently, the High Court set aside the suspension order.
At the same time, the Court directed the advocates to appear before the State Bar Council on the next scheduled hearing date. It further ordered that any documents sought by them and not yet supplied should be furnished upon request within 24 hours, provided the request was made in accordance with law.
The Court also made it clear that the advocates should not seek unnecessary adjournments in the disciplinary proceedings.