In Bihar State Bar Council vs. Shahnaz Fatma & Ors. (2025), Supreme Court's Division Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed a 1-page long order dated July 14, 2025. The Council was compelled to withdraw its petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) which arose out of 10-page long impugned final judgment dated April 25, 2025 by Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Partha Sarthy of Patna High Court's Division Bench in Bihar State Bar Council, through its Officiating Secretary vs. Shahnaz Fatma & Ors. (2025). The Division Bench had upheld the 22-page long judgement dated July 5, 2024 by Justice Sandeep Kumar in Shahnaz Fatma vs. Bihar State Bar Council & Ors.
Bihar State Bar Council filed a case on May 20, 2025 in the Supreme Court. It was registered on June 17, 2025. It was verified on June 23, 2025. The Respondents in the Supreme Court were: 1. Shahnaz Fatma, 2. The Disciplinary Committee, Bar Council of India, 3. The Bihar School Examination Board (Senior Secondary). 4. The State of Bihar, 5. The Chairman, Bar Council of India and 6. Prem Kumar Jha.
Supreme Court's order reads:"After arguing at some length, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, on instructions, seeks permission to withdraw this petition. Permission is granted. The special leave petition is dismissed as withdrawn." R. Balasubramanian was the senior advocate.
The other Respondents in the High Court were:Disciplinary Committee, Bar Council of India, through its Officiating Secretary, Bihar School Examination Board (Senior Secondary), through its Secretary, State of Bihar, through the Director, Secondary Education, Government of Bihar, Chairman, Bar Council of India and Prem Kumar Jha, Member Bihar State Bar Council. P.K. Shahi, Advocate General had appeared on behalf of the BCI, Shantanu Kumar was Advocate for the BSBC and Amit Shrivastava, senior advocate was the amicus curiae before Justice Kumar, the Single Judge Bench of the High Court.
Advocate Shahnaz Fatma has successfully questioned and challenged the resolution dated June 20, 2021 passed in General Body of Bihar State Bar Council, order dated December 18, 2021 passed by Bar Council of India. Justice Sandeep Kumar's judgement has been vindicated both in the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Justice Kumar concluded:".... I am of the view that the impugned orders are not sustainable in law. Accordingly, the impugned recommendation letter dated 18.12.2021 issued by the Bar Council of India as well as the notifications/orders dated 03.01.2022 and 04.01.2022 issued by the Bihar State Bar Council are hereby set aside. The respondent-Bihar State Bar Council is directed to restore the name of the petitioner on the roll of the Advocates maintained by the Bar Council of India and also restore all consequent privileges and right to the petitioner as were available before passing the impugned orders/letters." With these observations and directions, he allowed the writ petition of Advocate Shahnaz Fatma.
Also read: Chief Justice led Division Bench upholds decision of Justice Sandeep Kumar against Bar Council of India's order against Advocate Shahnaz Fatma
Patna High Court sets aside Bihar State Bar Council, Bar Council of India (BCI) orders, restores Advocate Shahnaz Fatma on the roll of BCI
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