Bar council suspends licence of Patiala bar association president

THE BAR COUNCIL DEBARRED ADVOCATE JPS GHUMAN FROM APPEARING IN ANY COURT IN COUNTRY

PATIALA: In a strict order, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana high court has suspended the licence of advocate JPS Ghuman, who is president of the Patiala Bar Association.

The bar council debarred Ghuman from appearing in any court in country and issued a notification regarding this by supplying copies to all courts concerned.

The bar council has constituted an ad-hoc five-member committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the Patiala Bar Association and formed a three-member committee to conduct elections.

As per norms, the incumbent president is the returning officer for the next elections. And if he wants to contest again for the said post, the vice-president has to be the returning officer.

Despite announcing his candidature, Ghuman violated the rules and instead of the vice-president, he appointed another advocate as the returning officer. After this, the bar council took suo motu notice and asked him to appear before a committee constituted to probe the matter.

As Ghuman fails to appear and didn’t supply the requisite information, the committee found him guilty of deliberately violating norms and non-cooperation. “Outgoing president Ghuman has behaved in an irresponsible manner which is not expected from an elected president. He has done so because he is again contesting for the post of president in the ensuing elections,” read the orders of Karamjit Singh, chairman of the HC bar council.

Meanwhile, Ghuman blamed his rival groups for his suspension. He said that he has done nothing wrong and had not appeared before the committee due to Covid-19 restrictions. “I am in touch with my colleagues and will challenge this undemocratic decision,” he added.