"Servile and self-serving": Navroz Seervai slams Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa for supporting Prashant Bhushan contempt conviction

Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai has condemned the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa's support of the Supreme Court's judgment finding Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court as being a usurpation of power and "a servile, self-serving attempt to curry favour with the CJI"..Yesterday, the Council had passed a resolution condemning the "efforts to pressurize" the judges of the Supreme Court by issuing statements against Court's judgment.In his statement issued today, Seervai registers protest over the Council's claim of representing the interests of as many as "1,75,000 lawyers practising in the states of Maharashtra and Goa." .Characterising the manner in which the Council claimed to be speaking on behalf of enrolled lawyers as an arrogation of power, and a usurpation not conferred by any statute, he states that the resolution "speaks eloquently to the irresponsible manner in which the Bar Council misconducts itself."His statement reads,."Its cringing language reads more like a confession wrung out from the accused during the great show-trials in 1930s USSR, rather than a resolution of any substance, passed by a responsible statutory body in accordance with the limited powers conferred upon it under the Advocates Act, 1961. It is not without significance that it mouths the phrase 'dealt with Iron hand (sic)', thereby aping the language of the judgment it so enthusiastically supports!".He further calls for the "strongest condemnation" for the same from lawyers as well as the Goa and Maharashtra Bar Associations. Categorically placing on record his disapproval of the resolution, he states,."I unequivocally repudiate this attempt by the Bar Council to represent my views on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Prashant Bhushan. In fact, my publicly stated position is to the contrary."Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai.Clearly erroneous in its reasoning, analysis and interpretation of contempt jurisdiction: Navroz Seervai on Prashant Bhushan Judgment.Additionally, the Senior Advocate expresses his disapproval of what he describes as the Council's "grandiose notion" of its representing the opinions of lawyers in Maharashtra and Goa. Seervai asserts that the Council "simply has no right or authority to do so in this fashion.".He further states,."The Full House Resolution said to be passed on 19th August 2020 does not and cannot speak for all members of the Bar, and it certainly does not speak for me.".Read the Statement here: