Senior advocate Arvind Nigam won temporary relief for Dushyant Dave who was to face disciplinary proceedings before the Gujarat bar council (SBC) for his alleged remarks before the Supreme Court in the judge BH Loya death case, reported PTI and others.

The Delhi high court has now stayed the 24 January Bar Council of India (BCI) direction to the SBC to finish proceedings against him by today, and the stay is until 2 August 2018 - the next date of hearing.

Nigam, briefed by advocate Ramesh Singh for Dave told the high court that the complaint on which the BCI had issued its order to the Gujarat SBC had asked for suspending advocate Prashant Bhushan’s practice certificate but had not asked for any action against Dave.

Delhi HC justice Rajiv Shakdher questioned the BCI on its jurisdiction to direct the Gujarat SBC on its manner and mode of proceeding against Dave, and has also issued notice to the Gujarat SBC.

The BCI had claimed in its order that:

• Dave had “cast some allegations against one of the judges of the Supreme Court” and based on that had reportedly advised Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla to withdraw his SC petition for independent probe into the death of judge Loya
• It was not just and proper for Dave to appear in the matter after giving such advice
• Dave had committed serious misconduct by making statements against senior advocate Harish Salve in the Supreme Court on the point of Salve appearing for the Maharashtra government in the judge Loya case

This is what happened on the day in question.

As we had reported in January, in the wake of the Loya hearings, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had sent a letter promising tough action against 3 or 4 advocates who “create ugly scenes” in court, in an obvious nod to Dave and Indira Jaising who were pushing hard for the court to take the Loya case seriously. However, the press meeting to address those measures was unexpectedly cancelled.