The Hindu : New Delhi News : Supreme Court declines to stay bar on Anand, Khan

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Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008
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Supreme Court declines to stay bar on Anand, Khan

Legal Correspondent

Stripping them of designation will damage reputation: counsel

Counsel argued that the High Court had no power to debar a lawyer from practising
Court says it has to verify the circumstances, facts and in what context the order was passed

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has declined to stay at this stage the Delhi High Court judgment barring advocates R.K. Anand and I.U. Khan from practising for four months in any court in Delhi for obstructing administration of justice in the BMW hit-and-run case.

A Bench, consisting of Justices B.N. Agrawal and G.S. Singhvi, after hearing senior counsel R.S. Sodhi and P.P. Rao for the petitioners, posted the matter to September 22 with a direction to the Registry to place on record the connected petitions.

Senior counsel argued that the High Court had no power to debar a lawyer from practising as it was a function of the Bar Council of India. Further, it could not ask the Full Court to strip them of their designation as senior advocates, as doing so would cause irreparable damage to their reputation. Counsel pleaded for a stay of the judgment citing an apex court decision in a similar matter.

Circumstances

Justice Agrawal said: “We don’t believe in the same order being followed. We have to see what are the circumstances, what are the facts and in what context the order was passed. You may have a right for admitting the appeal but not a right for a restraint order.”

A sting operation showed defence counsel Anand, in collusion with special public prosecutor Khan, discussing with eyewitness Sunil Kulkarni ways of bailing out Sanjeev Nanda, who had run over six people in January 1999.

The High Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

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