KK Venugopal urges SCBA President Vikas Singh to withdraw resolutions against Kapil Sibal, Neeraj Kishan Kaul

Former Attorney General for India (AG) and Senior Advocate KK Venugopal wrote to Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh on Tuesday urging him to withdraw the two resolutions proposed to be passed against Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Neeraj Kishan Kaul at a general body meeting of the bar body scheduled to be held on Thursday, March 16. .In a letter addressed to Singh, the former AG who had served as president of the SCBA in the past, said that the passing the proposed resolutions might end up dividing the Supreme Court bar into two factions and could permanently sour the the peaceful relationship that exists today among bar members."I would therefore sincerely request you not to allow these two resolutions so that this event may not explode into a situation where there may be two camps with enmity between the members inter se, which may not be conducive to the peace and well-being of Supreme Court Bar Association," the veteran lawyer said in his letter.One of the two SCBA resolutions cited by Venugopal seeks issuance of show cause notices to Sibal and Kaul for disagreeing with the manner in which SCBA president Vikas Singh had mentioned a case before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on March 2.CJI Chandrachud had rebuked Singh after the senior counsel continued to persist mentioning a matter.Singh had gone on to state that he would even visit the CJI's residence to get the matter heard.In response, the CJI had raised his voice and ordered Singh to leave the court immediately. He asserted that he would not be intimidated, and that Singh would be treated only like any other litigant.Later, Sibal and Kaul had apologised to the CJI for Singh's conduct in court which had not gone down well with the SCBA. The SCBA executive committee had subsequently expressed solidarity with Singh and proposed two resolutions against the two veteran lawyers.A general body meeting of the SCBA slated for March 16 at 4 pm will be voting on the issue..Venugopal in his letter to Singh said that he believes that the apology tendered by Sibal and Kaul to the CJI were only to "maintain cordial relations between bar and the bench.""I believe that I should write to you pointing out that the passing of these resolutions may result in creating two factions in the Bar, which may permanently sour the peaceful relationship which exists today amongst members of the Bar," Venugopal stated.He also requested that his letter be placed before the general body during its March 16 meeting. Earlier, more than 470 lawyers including 53 Senior Advocates also wrote to the SCBA to withdraw the two resolutions. .However, Singh told Bar & Bench that the resolutions cannot be withdrawn and there is "no agenda" against anyone.."We have no agenda against anyone. We only want that nobody should dilute the stand of the SCBA. Moreover we have only called for a GBM which as per rules we are bound to call when a requisition signed by more than 150 members is given to us. There is no question of any number of members asking to recall the requisition. They have only a right to vote against the resolution," said the President of SCBA..Meanwhile the case which is at the heart of this tussle will be heard by a special bench of the Supreme Court on Friday.The case by the SCBA seeking conversion of land allotted to the apex court as a chamber block for lawyers will be heard by a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and PS Narasimha.