New Delhi: President of the Gujarat High Court Bar Association, Yatin Oza, tendered an unconditional apology before the Supreme Court Thursday in a plea against the withdrawal of his senior advocate status by the high court last month.
Oza was stripped of the designation for levelling corruption allegations against the high court registry. He had moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court’s order.
A bench of Supreme Court Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ajay Rastogi heard the matter through video conferencing. During the hearing, Oza said that withdrawal of the senior advocate status, conferred upon him in 1999, was enough punishment for him.
Oza said he regretted the use of “intemperate language” after the top court judges took exception to it.
“There are better ways of showing emotion,” Justice Kaul said when Oza’s counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, submitted that his client got “emotionally carried away”.
Besides Singhvi, other senior Supreme Court advocates such as Arvind Datar, Dushyant Dave, Shekhar Naphade and Mihir Joshi also came out in support of Oza and urged the top court to protect his career.
Oza promised he would tender an apology before the Gujarat High Court as well.
The top court deferred the hearing of Oza’s petition by two weeks and requested the high court to take note of his apology to close the case.
The Gujarat High Court’s decision had come after Oza called its registry a “gambling den” last month. Apart from stripping him of his designation, the court also initiated contempt proceedings against him.
Also read: HC refuses to drop dacoity charges against anti-CAA protestor for ‘stealing’ keys of state bus
‘Statements made in charged-up atmosphere’
During the hearing, senior advocate Datar sought to clear the impression that Oza was a habitual offender. There have been two contempt notices against Oza earlier and Datar explained why these were issued.
The first case against Oza was a frivolous one involving his mobile phone ringing inside a courtroom, said Datar. The second case was when Oza stood up for a senior judge who was being transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
As a bar president, Datar submitted, Oza had called lawyers to vote against the transfer order. The Gujarat High Court took note of it and slapped a contempt notice against him, which was later set aside by the Supreme Court.
In the latest instance of levelling corruption charges against the high court, Datar said, Oza only spoke against the registry as a bar leader after receiving several complaints of matters not getting listed. He never intended to insult a judge or the institution, Datar asserted.
“All statements were made in a charged-up atmosphere when a lawyer had to become a ‘Swiggy’ delivery boy,” Datar said, referring to the popular food delivery app-based service.
Oza’s counsel Singhvi, however, conceded that the present situation could have been avoided if the former was more “nuanced” in his remarks. He then went on to impress upon the court that Oza has suffered enough punishment. “I think he has learnt his lesson.”
Naphade felt Oza was moved by the plight of people and had no personal or vested interests.
‘Judges and lawyers need to work together’
The Supreme Court bench, however, disapproved of Oza’s behaviour and said it was unexpected from a respectable man with several years of experience.
“You are not a youngster that you can go around to say whatever you want to. The Gujarat High Court has a lot of heritage. The bar can always point out issues with the bench. But the language needs to be looked at and the difference of opinion should not be stated in such language,” Justice Kaul said.
He went on to remind all lawyers that the present times were difficult and different. Senior lawyers, he said, were paying less salary to juniors working for them.
“If you, the bar, do not respect the institution, then how will youngsters respect it? They are going through far more difficult times now. Bar and bench are part of this institution. We must learn to respect each other,” the judge added.
Also read: Young boys turn offenders ‘without realising consequences’: HC bats for awareness on POCSO