Madhya Pradesh High Court asks lawyer to follow up on ice cream party promise after restoring his membership

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently set aside the suspension of membership of a lawyer in Datia District Bar Association, while ruling that the action was not in accordance with the byelaws [Ram Sahai Chiroliya vs District Bar Association, Daita]..The lawyer Ram Sahai Chiroliya, who had been acted against over alleged embezzlement of bar association’s funds during his tenure as its president, offered to hold a get-together including High Tea/Ice-Cream party to show his bonafides about his affiliation and affection with the Bar members.The division bench of Justice Anand Pathak and Justice Rajendra Kumar Vani also accepted the offer and told Chiroliya to honour his undertaking. “As per undertaking of the petitioner himself being former Head of the Bar Association, Datia (during the period 2017-2019), it is the time to show magnanimity and to honour his commitment regarding convening High Tea/ Ice Cream party with intimation to all members of the District Bar Association, if he intends to do so,” it said..Chiroliya’s membership had been suspended by the District Bar Association in 2020 over the allegation that after his tenure as the President of the Executive Body was over, he had failed to deposit a certain amount of the bar body.However, he denied the allegation of embezzlement and submitted that the amount mentioned in the show-cause notice issued to him was only ₹4565. He told the Court he would deposit it..Dealing with the merits of the case, the bench said that since the bar association is guided by the model bylaws of the State Bar Council, the decision to remove or cancel membership was required to be ratified by the General Body.“Similarly, parent body State Bar Council could have been consulted before removing the membership of the petitioner. Same has not been done in the present case,” it added.The Court thus set aside Chiroliya’s termination of membership. However, it granted liberty to the bar association to proceed in accordance with law and procedure, if advised so..Advocate Gaurav Mishra represented the petitionerAdvocate DP Singh represented the District Bar Association, Datia.Advocate Jitendra Sharma represented the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh..[Read Judgment]