Sambalpur: Bar Council of India (BCI) has lifted the suspension order on 54 lawyers of the Sambalpur High Court Bench Incident

Sambalpur: Hope, fear and anticipation are over. Finally, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has lifted the suspension order on 54 lawyers of the Sambalpur District Bar Association. These lawyers were suspended by the BCI for 18 months after the unexpected incident on December 12. BCI has written a letter to the Odisha State Bar Council saying that the order of suspension was revoked conditionally after they served 3 months of suspension.

Undertaking will be submitted within 10 days, no involvement of protest in future

The council said that this step was taken on the basis of the report of the three-member inquiry committee appointed by the BCI. The report of the three-member committee comprising senior lawyers Manas Mohapatra, Devi Prasad Dhal and Yashwant Das. In the report, the committee stated that they came to Sambalpur on the 25th and met the various parties and discussed the incident that happened here on the 30th of November and 12th of December and the subsequent situation. They first met District Court Judge Manas Ranjan Barik and his associate judicial officers. Barring the unexpected incident on the 12th, the judges said that the behavior of the lawyers of Sambalpur was very good and courteous towards them. On the previous day, some lawyers behaved aggressively in a campaign, but later said they were not qualified for it. The suspension of the legal practitioners suggested that the court should be penalized while looking into their financial situation.

The committee also held discussions with Sambalpur District Collector Ananya Das, Uttaranchal IG Deepak Kumar and all of them shared the same opinion. The committee also met senior members of the bar and suspended members. They apologized for the incident and took their stand. While the police have already filed the chargesheet in the case, the arrested lawyers have been granted bail by the High Court. An unconditional apology has been filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the lawyers. Most of the suspended lawyers are young lawyers. The committee recommended in its report that the BCI should lift the suspension order considering the punishment they have already suffered and the views of various parties.

After considering the report, the BCI felt that considering the imprisonment and suspension of the lawyers, they had already served enough punishment. A criminal case against them is pending in court. Besides, all the government parties and the members of the investigative committee expressed their sympathy towards the suspended lawyers and expressed their opinion for the withdrawal of the suspension. BCI Joint Editor Nalin Raj Chaturvedi mentioned in his letter that the suspension of all 54 lawyers has been withdrawn for the time being. However, all these 54 lawyers will submit an undertaking to the BCI editor through email within 10 days that they will not be involved in any such activity in future. Besides, the district judge has been requested to keep a strict watch on the movement and activities of all these lawyers. It has been warned that strict action will be taken if any adverse report is received by the council. The letter also mentions that this proposal will be presented to the Supreme Court on behalf of the BCI.