GHCAA President Asim Pandya challenges no-confidence motion passed against him

Outgoing President of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) Asim Pandya has challenged a move by a faction of the Association to pass a no-confidence motion against him..In his petition filed in the High Court, Pandya has raised the following two questions for the Court’s consideration:.Can a motion for no confidence be brought and passed against President of advocates’ association for his insistence to comply with and follow the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by the members of the association and for not submitting himself to the illegal demand of a few members to violate the law?Is the High Court not bound to nullify such an action of the advocates’ association ex debito justiae in exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it under Article 215 and 226 of and in consonance of the mandate of Article 144 of the Constitution of India?.By way of background, the Association on April 30 received a requisition signed by some member advocates to call an extraordinary general body meeting to mourn the death of Advocate Kirit Joshi, who was murdered in Jamnagar..Subsequently, Vice-President of the GHCAA Samir Dave called for a meeting on May 1. Since both Pandya (who was out of town) and Dave were not present at this meeting, the General Secretary presided over the same, and it was resolved that the lawyers would observe a strike..When Pandya returned, he moved to annul the resolution to call for a strike, as it was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Krishnakant Tamrakar v. State of MP. A general body meeting was called for May 3 for this purpose. At this meeting, a few members “created a ruckus” and circulated a one-line requisition of no confidence against Pandya. The petition states that the requisition was signed only by around 80 members out of a total of 1350 members of the GHCAA..At this juncture, Dave readily acted upon the requisition and called for a meeting of the General Body on May 4. At this meeting, the resolution of no confidence against Pandya was passed. The petition states,.“Curiously the minutes of the meeting does not record as to how many members of Association were present in the meeting dated 4/5/2018. Respondent No.2 without counting the votes in favour declared that the motion of no confidence as passed by presuming the silence of most of the members as their vote in favour of no confidence.”.Pandya further points out that the notice of the meeting was circulated through WhatsApp, which he claims, is not a legal mode of publication of the notice..“There are large number member/lawyers who do not use Whats app at all. There are several members who are not a member of a particular Whatsapp groups. It can be safely said that most of the members who have crossed 65 years age are not using the whatsapp. There are at least 30% to 40% lawyers/members of the Association who are not at all the members of certain whatsapp groups created by some advocates for exchanging their personal communications in the group.”.Later, around 400 members of the GHCAA requisitioned for a special/extraordinary meeting to be called to declare the meeting dated May 4 null and void. It was expected that this meeting would be convened after the High Court reopened from vacations on June 11. In the meanwhile, Pandya tendered his resignation on May 8..After the Court reopened, a meeting was called on June 14, wherein the requisition of the 400 members was not discussed. Instead, the Managing Committee of the GHCAA decided to hold election for the post of President without first accepting Pandya’s resignation..Therefore, Pandya has filed this petition challenging the various decisions taken by the GHCAA. The no-confidence motion, he says, was passed with a view to tarnishing his reputation. In his petition, he makes it clear that he is not seeking re-election as President..“It is made clear that the petitioner is not really interested in continuing as President of the Association any more nor is he interested in contesting a fresh election. The present petition is being filed only with a view to seeing the affairs of the Association are conducted in accordance with the written Constitution of Association, in non-arbitrary manner and in conformity with the law declared by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.”.Therefore, it has been prayed that the High Court rule that the no confidence motion passed against against him by the GHCAA be declared as being without jurisdiction, void ab initio, and contrary to the settled law. It is also prayed that the Court quash and set aside the resolution of the Managing Committee of the GHCAA dated June 14 as being unconstitutional and void. Further, Pandya prays that the Managing Committee of respondent take a decision on his resignation letter in accordance with the Constitution of GHCAA and “be pleased to undo/nullify the violation of the right to reputation of the petitioner”..Read the petition: