The President of the Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA), Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, has urged the Chief Justice of India to hear two cases pending before the Apex Court, filed by the SCBA, which according to him are matters concerning the lives and livelihood of members of SCBA.

The SCBA President has said that by declining the request made by SCBA for hearing of the matters, SCBA is being treated worse than ordinary litigant. It further added that hopefully a situation will not be created where they are forced to protest.

SCBA has also stated that hopefully, the CJI will ensure that matters which get listed after great difficulty do not get out of the list without hearing.

“We agree that the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India has powers to change a system but we have every hope and trust that every CJI will bring a change for the better and ensure that the matters which get listed after great difficulty do not get out of the list without hearing and that too get posted 4 weeks thereafter.”, the letter addressed to the CJI read.

In the letter, the SCBA President has pointed out two crucial matters concerning the lives and livelihood of the Bar.

1. SCBA v. Ministry of Urban Development & Ors.

The petition was filed by the SCBA seeking a mandamus directing the Ministry of Urban Development to grant permission for the conversion of the entire land allotted to the Supreme Court as chamber block for lawyers. In this case notice was issued by the Apex Court in September 2022, then the matter was heard in November 3. The matter was adjourned to November 21 however the matter was not heard. The matter was listed on January 09, 2023, however the matter could not be heard.

2. SCBA Multi State Cooperative Group Housing Society Ltd. v. Aftab Alam & Anr & connected matters

The issue in the matter pertains to effecting urgent repairs to Supreme Towers constructed for the SCBA multi-state group housing society limited in Noida where more than 700 lawyers with their families are residing. The matter has been listed on various dates however no hearing took place. The SCBA has stated that as the matter is not being heard there has been a delay in signing of the agreement by which renovation work has to be carried on.

The Letter by SCBA has stated that the above two matters are concerning the live and livelihood of the members of SCBA and non-hearing these matters are of serious concern.

The letter further read “…by declining the request made by SCBA for hearing of the matters, SCBA is being treated worse than ordinary litigant. We are now getting a feeling that the SCBA, since it has never resorted to strike in its history is not being given its due importance. Given this unfair treatment, we hope and trust that a situation will not be created to force us to resort to some dignified way of protest.”

Click here to read/download Letter



Supreme Court Bar AssociationVikas SinghChief Justice DY Chandrachud

Ashish Shaji