Team Blitz India
New Delhi: The outgoing President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Senior Advocate Dr. Adish C Aggarwala, has expressed concern over the active involvement of political parties in the just-concluded SCBA elections.
In a letter to the new SCBA chief, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, Dr. Aggarwala said it would be prudent if, as President of the SCBA, Sibal ensured that the Bar remains completely apolitical and non-partisan. “This is the first time that political parties have actively engaged in the elections of SCBA. This reflects very poorly on our legal system. Once political parties become involved at the level of the Supreme Court Bar Association, they will eventually get involved with all Bar associations in India. Once there is division of lawyers on political lines in our Bar associations, we will no longer be able to protect the interests of the members of the Bar,” Dr Aggarwala, who was also acting Chairman of Bar Council of India, told Mr Sibal.
Congratulating the former Union Law Minister on his landslide victory, Dr. Aggarwala pointed out that “even though I have been politically neutral, I am happy that all right- thinking members, cutting across the political divide, have supported me in these elections.”
The outgoing President also pointed to the fact that the new SCBA Executive will have a tenure of two and a half years due to the Delhi High Court order in the Lalit Sharma & others vs Union of India case. He also asked Sibal to immediately move to bring amendments to voting rights in SCBA elections.
Dr. Aggarwala, who is also the Chairman of All India Bar Association, said that as President of the SCBA, he always worked towards protecting the “independence of the Bar and our constitutional values.”
He also said that since the rich and affluent members of the Bar were not forthcoming in support of the young and needy lawyers, it was incumbent upon him to get the life and medical insurance schemes from the Govt.
He urged Mr. Sibal to come good on his plans to get the big corporates to assist young and needy lawyers through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.
