NEW DELHI, AUG 6
The Supreme Court on Thursday took note of an unconditional apology of bar leader Yatin Oza, whose designation as a senior advocate was withdrawn after his critical comments, and said that Gujarat High Court would consider it in the pending contempt proceedings against him.
The high court, in its full-court decision, had decided to recall its order conferring designation of the senior advocate to Oza who is now the president of Gujarat High Court Advocates Association, after taking note of his alleged remarks against the court and its registry in his live press conference conducted on Facebook.
“The contempt proceedings are still pending and in view of his unconditional apology both before the full-court, the contempt proceedings and before us, we consider it appropriate that the contempt court itself first applies its mind to the issue. The petitioner (Oza) has no hesitation in saying that he has apologized unconditionally and will apologise unconditionally in the contempt proceedings and pray for bringing to closure those proceedings,” a bench headed by Justice S K Kaul said in its order.
“We may note that the petitioner himself has been quite apologetic before us and states that he should not have used the words he used and those words were used in the heat of the situation where everybody is troubled by the prevailing problem of COVID and the grievances of the younger members of Bar,” the bench said.
During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Oza and the lawyers appearing in the matter said that his statements were “uncalled for which he deeply regrets”.
“We did put to him that the grievances may exist but can always be conveyed in a better language. Systems can be improved but imputations should not unnecessarily be made,” it said.
The petitioner said that will also make a representation to the full court stating that the deprivation of his gown for the existing period already is sufficient punishment for him.
“We have put to the petitioner that as a leader of the Bar and as a senior member, a far greater responsibility is expected of him to not only be more restrained but also to guide the younger lawyers in these difficult times,” the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on August 26.
The top court was hearing Oza’s plea against high court’s order of recalling his designation as a senior advocate in the contempt proceedings.
