Supreme Court: In a matter concerning the Supreme Court Bar Association (‘SCBA’) elections, a division bench of Surya Kant and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. concluded that there appeared to be no irregularity or malpractice in the conduct of the SCBA elections for the post of President. The discrepancy in the vote count was found to be a bona fide and inadvertent error, which was appropriately addressed through a transparent recounting process. Further, the Court directed the Election Committee to conduct a recount for the election of nine Junior Executive Members to address concerns raised by aggrieved members.
Pursuant to representations received from candidates contesting for the offices of the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Junior Executive Members, the Court heard Pradeep Rai and Dr. Adish Aggarwala, Senior Advocates, who contested for the post of President. All three members of the Election Committee assisted the Court. The Committee submitted its report to the Court.
The Court perused the Minutes of the 11th Meeting of the Election Committee held on 24-05-2025. The Committee, having noticed an inadvertent calculation error between the number of votes and voting slips for the post of President, decided to recount the ballots on 26-05-2025 at 11:30 AM. This was duly brought to the Court’s attention on the same day.
The Court noted that the recount was conducted in the presence of a Registrar of the Court acting as an observer. While minor differences were noted in individual vote counts, the overall result remained unchanged. The Court accepted the report and expressed appreciation for the Election Committee and the volunteers who assisted.
The Court directed the Election Committee to conduct a recount for the election of nine Junior Executive Members to address concerns raised by aggrieved members. Due to the non-availability of some Committee members during partial working days, the exercise is to be undertaken after the Court reopens, with all members present.
The Secretary General of the Court was directed to ensure the deployment of adequate Supreme Court staff to assist with the recounting process.
The Court directed that the recount of ballots should be conducted in the presence of the respective candidates or their duly nominated representatives. However, it was made explicitly clear that no interruption or interference in the recounting process would be allowed. The Court warned that any such incident, if reported, would be viewed seriously and dealt with strictly, in accordance with law.
The Court considered a complaint dated 25-05-2025 by Dr. Adish Aggarwala. As the complaint lacked supporting evidence, and upon sensing the mood of the Court, Dr. Aggarwala unconditionally withdrew his remarks and acknowledged that such allegations should not have been made. The Court recorded this statement and treated the matter as closed.
The Court directed Advocate Dr. Mukut Nath Verma to appear on 29-05-2025 at 10:30 AM. Failure to appear will result in coercive steps being taken to secure his presence.
The matter was directed to be posted on 29-05-2025 before the Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta.
[Supreme Court Bar Association v. BD Kaushik, Diary No(s).13992/2023. decided on 27-05-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Parties: Mr. Akshat Shrivastava, AOR Mr. Sameer Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Amit Pai, Adv. Mr. Palash Pareek, Adv. Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv. Mr. J.M. Sharma, Sr. Adv. Ms. Mahalakshmi Pavani, Sr. Adv. Mr. Kuldeep Jauhari, AOR Ms. Maherarish Rein, Adv. Mr. Mohit Yadav Adv. Ms. Sneha Kalita, Adv. Ms. Anzu, Adv. Mr. Gautam Singh, Adv. Intervenor-in-person, AOR Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal, AOR Mrs. Mridul Aggarwal, Adv. Ms. Deeksha Aggarwal, Adv. Ms. Pragya Bhagel, Adv. Mr. Vikrant Yadav, Adv. Ms. Kumud Lata Das, Adv. Ms. Sadhana Sandhu, AOR Ms. Pooja Rathore, Adv. Ms. Ashna Singh, Adv. Ms. Anju Sen, Adv. Mr. Ujjawal, Adv. Ms. Kumud Lata Das, AOR Mr. Aman Anand, Adv. Ms. Pooja Rathore, Adv. Mr. Bibhuti Krishna, Adv. Ms. Rubina Jawed, Adv. Mr. Harsh Ajay Singh, Adv. Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rahul Kaushik, Sr. Adv. Ms. Pragya Baghel, Adv. Mr. Meenesh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Vikrant Yadav, Adv. Mr. Susheel Tomar, Adv. Mr. Shashank Shekhar, AOR Mr. Tripurari Ray, Adv. Mr. Parmanand Pandey, AOR Mr. Birendra Kr. Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Arun Kumar, Adv. Mr. Tarun Kant Samantray, Adv. Mr. Chandra Sekhar Panda, Adv. Mr. Gautam Das, AOR Mr. Chandan Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Sankalp T., Adv. Mr. Rishesh S., Adv. Mr. Utkarsh Pandey, Adv. Mr. Kartikay Sharma, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Shivaji M. Jadhav, AOR Mr. Anchit Sripat, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Biswanath Agrawalla, Adv. Ms. Mandani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh, Adv. Mr. Vishal Thakre, Adv. Ms. Anjale Kumari, Adv. Mr. Deepak Yadav, Adv. Mr. Pramod Kumar Yadav, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Malhotra, AOR Mrs. Revathy Raghavan, Adv. Mr. M.U. Manimuthli, Adv. Ms. Kavya Roy Choudhury, Adv. Mr. Vishwesh R.M., Adv. Mr. Pawan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, Adv. Mr. D. Girish Kumar, Adv. Mr. Shibhashish Misra, AOR Mr. Pradeep Rai, Sr. Adv. Mr. Dinesh Kumar Garg, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. Aviral Saxena, AOR Mr. Deepak Prakash, AOR Mr. Jitul K. S., Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Ranjan Prasad, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Sandeep Lamba, Adv. Mr. Mohit Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Dharm Pal Saini, Adv. Mr. Dharma Datta Verma, Adv. Mr. Rohit Verma, Adv. Ms. Deepa Joseph, Adv. Ms. Yogamaya M.G., Adv. Ms. Komal, Adv. Ms. Sheekh Baby Saba, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Ms. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Narendra Kumar Goyal, Adv. Mr. Divyanshu S., Adv. Mr. Jeetendra Kumar, Adv. M/s. Mukesh Kumar Singh & Co., AOR Mr. Aabhas Parimal, Adv. Mr. Vibhu Shanker Mishra, Adv. Ms. Samta Pushkarna Mishra, Adv. Mr. R.S. Mishra, Adv. Mr. Vijay Pal, Adv. Ms. Triveni S. Poteker, Adv. Ms. Priyanka S. Mathur, Adv. Ms. Sweta Sinha, Adv. Mr. Sachin Pahwa, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Agnihotry, Adv. Mr. Mata Prasad Singh, Adv. Mr. Ram Narayan Mohanty, Adv. Mr. M.Z. Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Vijay Pal, Adv. Dr. Adish C. Aggarwala, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ritesh Singh, Adv. Mr. Kuldeep Jauhari, Adv. Mr. Vipin Kumar Bharti, Adv. Mr. Kavish Aggarwala, Av. Mr. Shubham Kumar, Adv. Mr. Uttam Kumar, Adv. Mr. Suraj Pathak, Adv. Mr. Prashant G., Adv. Ms. Ruma Pathak, Adv. Mr. Shravan Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. R.S. Siddiqui, AdvMr. K.V. Bharathi Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Ram Narain Mohanty, Adv. Ms. Ruma P., Adv. Mr. Deepeika Kalra, Adv. Ms. Vasudha Singh, Adv. Mr. Sudeep Chandra, Adv. Ms. Baby Devi, Adv.
