Supreme Court Fines Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa for Frivolous Case Against Advocate

CT Team 1 min read September 24, 2025 at 4:16 pm

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (24 September) ordered the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) to pay Rs 50,000 as cost for entertaining a baseless complaint against an advocate. The amount will be paid to the advocate who was forced to face the proceedings.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing BCMG’s appeal against a Bombay High Court decision that had stayed disciplinary proceedings against the lawyer.

The case was based on a complaint accusing the advocate of misconduct in a 1985 civil suit, where he represented the plaintiff. The complainant alleged fraud in the Consent Terms signed in 2005, claiming his property was wrongly included.

However, the Bombay High Court noted that neither the complainant, his father, nor his father’s firm were parties to the 1985 case. It also highlighted that the complainant had already filed a plea to set aside the Consent Terms on the ground of fraud. The Court questioned how any alleged fraud between parties could be blamed on the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Referring to its earlier ruling in Geeta Ramanugrah Shashtri v. Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, the High Court remarked that litigants often try to intimidate opposing counsel by filing disciplinary complaints. It held that no misconduct could be attributed to the advocate and found no justification for BCMG’s referral of the matter to its Disciplinary Committee.

Accordingly, the High Court stayed the proceedings. Challenging this, BCMG approached the Supreme Court, which has now dismissed the appeal and imposed costs.

Case Details