SC has come to such levels where judges are afraid of the Bar, Dushyant Dave on not being allowed to speak at Justice Arun Mishra’s farewell

President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Dushyant Dave has written to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde expressing disappointment at not being invited to speak during the virtual farewell ceremony held for Justice Arun Mishra today..His letter to the CJI reads,."The entire episode leaves much to be desired on the part of this great Institution. The whole attempt was to prevent me from addressing on behalf of the SCBA and its EC, after having invited and invitation having been accepted. This was clearly an affront to the Bar and to me personally."Dushyant Dave.Dave claims that after he was invited to join the farewell ceremony, he logged in at 12:20 pm, when the team confirmed that his video and audio were "perfect". After Attorney General KK Venugopal concluded his speech, Dave thought that he would be invited to say a few words.However, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association President Shivaji Jadhav was invited to speak instead. At this point, Dave claims that he was disconnected from audio multiple times, and that attempts to rejoin were fruitless. All this while, he watched Jadhav, CJI Bobde and Justice Mishra make their speeches. Dave states in his letter,"At that stage realising the game plan I exited in the larger interests of the dignity of the Bar and myself.But what is most important is that I messaged the Secretary General on WhatsApp at 12:49 and again at 12:53 asking why I was kept on mute and why was I at all invited. Only at 1:02 he responded saying he is instructing Registrar to look into it, by which time it was too late and so I messaged him informing that I had exited.".Dave clarified that he did not intend to say anything unpleasant during the farewell. What he intended to say was:"On behalf of the SCBA, the EC, and myself, I wish you Justice Mishra happiness and bliss in remainder of your long life which by all accounts will be as fruitful and rewarding as it has been. May I pray to Lord Mahabaleshwar to bless you with strength to introspect and stir up your conscience.".He goes on to state,."I must confess, the Supreme Court has come to such levels where the Judges are afraid of the Bar. Please do remember, Judges come and go but we the Bar remain constant. We are the real strength of this great Institution because we are permanent."Dushyant Dave.Dave has concluded his letter by saying that he will never again participate in any function being organised by the Supreme Court till his term as SCBA President expires in December..Update from Supreme Court's Technical Team (16:03) A source from the Supreme Court's technical team reached out to Bar & Bench stating that the link for Justice Mishra's virtual farewell was in fact shared with Senior Advocate Dave, but since he was unable to retrieve it, rather than getting in touch with the concerned team, Dave went ahead to write a letter directly addressing the Chief Justice of India.The source further added that Dave, being the President of the SCBA, cannot be left out of a farewell ceremony for a Supreme Court judge.