Demands seeking the resignation of Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra gained momentum on Saturday, as Senior Advocate Manoj Kumar N, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee, BCI, demanded his resignation. BCI Co-Chairman and Senior Advocate Y R Sadasiva Reddy also addressed a letter to Mishra, asking him to resign from the post forthwith.

Kumar demanded the resignation at the General Council meeting, which was held physically at the BCI office in Delhi and chaired by Mishra.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kumar said, “I demanded that the Chairman resign from his post forthwith. Advocate Srinath Tripathi, Member of BCI (from Uttar Pradesh), supported my demand. Reddy, who has written a letter separately to Mishra seeking his resignation, was not present at the meeting.” Later, Kumar also sent a letter to Mishra raising the demand.

The letters demanded the resignation in the larger interest of the Bar Council of India and the legal profession and pave the way for institutional renewal. In his letter, Reddy said, “The Bar of this country deserves better than what it is presently receiving from its own council.”

Kumar said, “The Bar Council of India must once again become a truly democratic, independent and representative body of the advocates of this country, functioning strictly in accordance with the Advocates Act, the rule of law and the constitutional values which the legal profession is duty-bound to uphold.”

Both the members made it clear that they were demanding the resignation with a deep sense of concern and anguish regarding the present functioning of the Bar Council of India.

Reddy said, “I hold no personal animosity towards you. I have served alongside you on this Council for a decade. It is precisely because I have watched this institution from within for that period that I am able to say, with a clear conscience, that it will not recover while you remain in the Chair. Standing down now, on your own accord, is the one course still open to you that would be to your credit.”

Mishra landed in controversy after he issued a directive on August 13, asking state Bar councils not to enroll students of NALSAR’s (National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) 2026 batch following a campaign started by around 450 NALSAR students opposing CJI Surya Kant being invited to the university convocation. Mishra withdrew the circular within hours of issuing it, saying the BCI had closed the proceedings after concluding that the students had “no role in any disturbance or movement”.

In their letters, the BCI members have stated that the direction issued against the graduating batch of NALSAR was issued without material being placed before the Bar Council of India, without the Council deliberating upon it, and without any resolution of the BCI authorising it.

Kumar said, “Every citizen has the right to express an opinion, including an opinion disagreeing with persons occupying the highest constitutional offices. Peaceful dissent or disagreement over the choice of a Chief Guest cannot be transformed into a ground for threatening a student’s future entry into the legal profession.”

Concerns regarding BCI Trust ‘Pearl First’

One of the prime concerns raised is the formation of the ‘BCI Trust PEARL First’, which was registered on September 17, 2020, with trustees allegedly chosen by Mishra. Reddy has claimed that a resolution was earlier moved to transfer Rs 150 crore of Bar Council of India funds to that newly created trust. Both the BCI members have alleged that other council members were kept in the dark about the functioning of the new trust.

Referring to the recent protest by Advocates held outside the BCI office demanding Mishra’s resignation, Reddy and Kumar have said that young advocates have the most to gain from a functioning Council and the most to lose from a ‘captured’ one.

Reddy has highlighted in his letter, “Emergence of such expressions of dissatisfaction from within the legal profession cannot simply be ignored. They reflect a serious erosion of confidence in the manner in which the apex statutory body of advocates is presently being administered.”

In addition to the resignation of Mishra, Reddy has demanded that a Special Meeting of the Bar Council of India be convened. Further, he has urged for a special audit of the accounts of both the Bar Council of India and ‘BCI Trust Pearl First’ by an independent firm empaneled with the CAG.

Mishra, however, has pushed back against the resignation demand by claiming that the allegations made against him were baseless, and they have no value in the eyes of law.

“He (Reddy) is not the Co-Chairman. He is not even a member of the State Bar Council. While he was a member of BCI, he was opposed to me, tried to contest against me, but couldn’t get even a proposer. Politically, he is also opposed to me. Everything is transparent here. He has made all false and baseless allegations after getting ousted from the Bar Council,” Mishra said.