Overview
- On September 23, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi dismissed advocate Manoj Kumar Sharma’s appeal and affirmed his three-year suspension for making scandalous allegations against complainant Priyanka Bansal.
- The Court imposed Rs 1 lakh as costs payable to Bansal within three months, directed the Collector, Agra, to attach Sharma’s properties for recovery, and barred renewal of his license without prior permission of the Court.
- The bench also required that, after the suspension period, a compliance report be submitted to the Supreme Court’s Secretary General regarding the sentence already undergone.
- On September 24, a separate bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta quashed Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa–referred proceedings where the complainant had no professional relationship with the advocates, calling such prosecutions impermissible.
- The Court held that referral orders under Section 35 must be reasoned, termed BCMG’s order “cryptic,” and levied costs of Rs 50,000 on BCMG and Rs 50,000 on complainant Bansidhar Annaji Bhakad in cases involving advocates Rajiv Nareshchandra Narula and Geeta Ramanugrah Shastri.