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Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa vs Rajiv Nareshchandra Narula & Ors.

Not available · 2025 INSC 1147Decided 24 Sept 2025
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

A complainant, claiming to be an heir in a decades-old property dispute involving multiple suits over land in Mumbai, filed a professional misconduct complaint under Section 35 of the Advocates Act, 1961 against an advocate, Rajiv Narula, essentially because the advocate had identified the opposing party in an affidavit filed in unrelated litigation. The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) referred the complaint to its Disciplinary Committee for inquiry. The advocate challenged this reference before the Bombay High Court, which quashed the complaint; the BCMG and the original complainant then appealed to the Supreme Court against the High Court's order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the background of the long-running property litigation and found that the professional misconduct complaint against the advocate was baseless. It arose from the advocate merely performing his professional duty of identifying the opposing party, not from any genuine act of misconduct. The Court held that the BCMG's decision to register the complaint and refer it to the Disciplinary Committee was illegal, bordering on perversity, and amounted to malicious prosecution of the advocate at the instance of the opposing litigant. The Court upheld the High Court's order quashing the complaint, dismissed both special leave petitions, and additionally imposed costs of Rs. 50,000 each on the complainant and on the Bar Council, payable to the wrongly targeted advocate.

Lesson Learnt

Bar Councils must exercise their disciplinary powers responsibly and not become instruments for harassing lawyers over frivolous complaints filed by disgruntled opposing litigants; doing so can attract costs against both the complainant and the disciplinary body itself.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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