Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has stayed the letter issued by the Jharkhand State Bar Council secretary to the state High Court Advocate Association secretary seeking information regarding advocates who appeared in the court proceedings defying the council’s decision.
The development took place in the bench of Justice Ananda Sen when former advocate general of the state Anil Kumar Sinha moved a contempt petition on the basis of the letter and the court admitted the petition with the direction to list it before the court of the acting chief justice for hearing.
Sinha, whose name was mentioned in the letter, moved the high court stating that in accordance with a Supreme Court decision given in 2018 asking anyone not to participate in the court proceedings is contempt of court and thus contempt proceedings be initiated against counsel for threatening advocates of disciplinary action for appearing in the court.
As many as seven advocates were mentioned in the letter from Jharkhand State Bar Council. This included Sinha besides six other advocates including Nilesh Kumar, Ashutosh Anand, Manoj Kumar Mishra, NK Ganjhu and Jitendra Kumar Pandey.
The letter was issued for the official confirmation of the information regarding their appearance in the court before initiating the process for proper disciplinary action against them. Through the letter the Bar Council secretary has also sought information regarding the appearance of the other advocates, violating Bar Council directives.