Court entered for August 27, the lawsuit in which he claimed damages of Rs 5 crore (File)
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the suspended secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ashok Arora to bring to light the defamatory allegations made by various members of the bar against him, causing him mental torture and harassment.
Judge Mukta Gupta, who was leading the videoconference proceedings, asked Arora to show the cause of action against all the defendants.
“Tell me how the defamation is established in there. You can also invoke the defamation in your previous action,” the court said, adding that it was identifying the defamatory statements made by each of the defendants individually.
The court listed for August 27 the trial in which it claimed damages of Rs 5 crore from 19 members of the APRIA office, including its chairman Dushyant Dave and vice-chairman Kailash Vasudev as well as his former acting secretary.
The lawsuit is also intended to prevent them from defaming Arora by posting, posting and circulating such material in any form.
Arora also filed another complaint in the High Court challenging his suspension from the post of secretary of the ARI.
On July 3, the court issued a summons to APRIA and the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the case and an opinion on the application filed by Arora seeking to suspend the May 8 resolution passed by the APRIA Executive Committee from which he was suspended.
The libel action claimed: “In fact, all in conspiracy with each other and some other members of APRIA humiliated and caused severe mental torture to the applicant. They humiliated him, trolled him and prevented him from performing his duties as evidenced by the various Whatsapp messages and emails. “
However, lawyer representing Dave argued that the libel suit was not maintainable because the first prayer was not to declare the statements defamatory, but to seek damages.
Senior attorneys Arvind Nigam and Rajiv Nayar, representing Dave, said the allegation of mental torture caused to Arora as a result of his suspension was part of the first cause of action for which he had previously filed an action, but he did not did not claim damages.
Arora argued that libel must be brought against individuals and he could not claim libel in his previous action.
The APRIA Executive Committee passed a resolution on May 8, suspending Arora from the post of secretary with immediate effect in a meeting held through an online conference.
The suspension came a day after Arora called a new General Assembly (EGM) of the Bar Corps on May 11 to deliberate on the agenda for the dismissal of lead counsel Dushyant Dave from the post of chairman of the ‘APRIA.
The Executive Committee had also canceled the proposed EGM and decided to set up a three-member panel to examine the allegations against Arora, an APRIA official said.
The official said the decision to suspend Arora was taken by the majority of participating lawyers.
Differences emerged among senior APRIA officials over the position taken by the legal body on a “resolution” regarding statements made by Judge Arun Mishra about Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2020 International Judicial Conference.
Shortly after Dave issued the February 25 “resolution”, which was reportedly signed by several members of the legal profession expressing concern over Judge Mishra’s statements, Arora claimed that “no resolution had been made. adopted ”because he had not signed the statement released to the media.
Arora then said: “There had been no executive council or general meeting of the Association. The president has taken an arbitrary and irresponsible dictatorial position. He cannot speak on behalf of APRA without calling a general assembly or a meeting of the executive board. on such a serious matter “.
Arora had said all media communication should be sent through the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is the secretary general of the ARA.
The body of lawyers in its resolution said: “APRI expresses its strong reservations on the declaration and strongly condemns it. APRA believes that the independence of the judiciary is the basic structure of the Indian Constitution and that a such independence must be preserved – in letter and spirit. “
On February 22, Judge Mishra congratulated Prime Minister Modi, while delivering a vote of thanks at the inaugural ceremony of the 2020 International Judicial Conference – “The Judiciary and the Changing World” and called him “visionary internationally renowned “and” versatile genius, who thinks globally and acts locally “.
