Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, is the first lawyer in independent India to be banned from practice by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
Manikandan Vathan Chettiar, is the first lawyer in independent India to be banned from practice by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
He is in illustrious company: Before him came Mahatma Gandhi, who was indefinitely debarred in 1922 by London's Parliament of Inner Temple. And before that was another freedom fighter Shyamaji Krishna Varma, debarred by the British in 1909.
Chettiar says he too has been debarred for what could be considered 'noble' deeds: It is the price of speaking up against corruption in the judiciary and society. The Tamil Nadu resident says he has been engaged in Public Interest Litigations and has exposed several fraudulent practices in the judiciary and police in his state.
Chettiar approached the Supreme Court on Friday, demanding a revoke of the ban issued in 2018. He argued that the order is illegal as he was debarred while disciplinary proceedings initiated against him were pending.
In 2015, Madras High Court found Chettiar to have violated lawyers' Code of Conduct by making uncharitable remarks against a public prosecutor and scurrilous charges against sitting judicial officers. The HC gave Tamil Nadu Bar Council the go-ahead to take suitable action against Chettiar, following which he was debarred for life not just by the Tamil Nadu Bar Council but BCI as well.
Chettiar's petition cites the 2004 Sankararaman murder case — in which the late Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati was one of the accused — as a tipping point for action against him. He said he moved an application seeking probe into a taped conversation between the seer and the trial judge of the case.
Later, a counsel who appeared for the accused was elevated to judge of Madras High Court; coincidentally, it was he who passed the August 2015 judgment allowing the Bar Council to take stringent action against Chettiar.
The HC found Chettiar of violating the Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette, saying, "He has thrown to wind fundamental canons of decent behaviour towards colleagues by impleading them as party respondents and character assassinating them knowing fully well that they would not stoop low and retaliate...Uncharitable allegations have been made against them without any basis or supporting material."
According to the Code of Conduct BCI prescribes for lawyers, an advocate is obliged "to exercise judgment in the use of restrained language in correspondence, avoiding scurrilous attacks in pleadings and intemperate use of language during arguments in court."
Justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta admitted his appeal with an order to hear it expeditiously but refused to stay the ban order for now.
Court Courtesy
- Manikandan Chettiar was banned by Bar Council in 2018, after Madras HC found him guilty of violating lawyers’ Code of Conduct
- Chettiar says HC order came when disciplinary action against him were pending
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