Asim Pandya resumes office as President of GHCAA after no-confidence controversy

Days after moving the High Court against a no-confidence motion passed against him last month, Asim Pandya has been reinstated to his post as the President of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA)..The no-confidence motion appears to have stemmed out of Pandya’s refusal to grant permission for the members to hold a strike to mourn the recent murder of an Advocate Kirit Joshi. A meeting held on May 1 saw the passing of a resolution to hold the strike, while Pandya was out of town..After his return, Pandya moved to annul a resolution calling for the strike, as it was in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement in Krishnakant Tamrakar v. State of MP. A general body meeting was called for May 3 for this purpose. At this meeting, a few members are said to have “created a ruckus” and circulated a one-line requisition of no-confidence against Pandya..As per Pandya, GHCAA Vice President Samir Dave readily acted upon the requisition and called for a meeting of the General Body on May 4. At this meeting, the resolution of no-confidence against Pandya was passed..Pandya in turn challenged the no-confidence motion passed against him in the Gujarat High Court as being illegal. In his petition, he submitted that the motion was passed without the requisite majority and without accepting his resignation, with a view to malign his reputation. Eventually, he also sent a formal letter of resignation on May 8 to the Managing Committee, which was never accepted..It now appears that he has the support of at least 244 members of the GHCAA. As per a press release circulated today, approximately 400 lawyers of the GHCAA brought about another requisition on May 7 to declare the May 4 meeting and the no-confidence motion passed therein as being void ab initio and without the authority of law. .While the Managing Committee under the Vice Chairmanship of Samir Dave did not act on this requisition, the members who gave the requisition itself called a referendum on June 22. Out of the 343 votes cast in this referendum, 244 (72% votes) were cast to nullify the “no-confidence”..In light of this development, Pandya has once again been declared as President of the GHCAA. As stated in the press note,.“Since, the resignation of President Mr. Asim Pandya has not been accepted till date, he is restored to the original office as President of the Association by virtue of the majority verdict of the members through referendum. Now, Mr. Asim Pandya President of GHCAA has requested the General Secretary Mr. Prithvisinh Jadeja to call the meeting of the Managing Committee on 2/7/2018 to consider his letter of resignation dated 8/5/2018 and take appropriate decision on it.”.Read full statement below: