In Brief
A lawyer filed a professional misconduct complaint against his advocate before the Andhra Pradesh Bar Council in 2013. The State Bar Council failed to dispose of it within one year, so it was automatically transferred to the Bar Council of India, which dismissed it on a technicality without examining the merits. The Supreme Court disapproved this approach and found that State Bar Councils have a mandatory duty to decide complaints within one year. The Court expressed concern at systemic delays: 1,273 complaints had been transferred in five years with only 27 disposed. The Court directed Bar Councils to establish regular disciplinary committee meetings, enlist inquiry officer panels, and ensure both State Bar Councils and the Bar Council of India dispose of complaints within the statutory one-year deadline. The Court emphasised that the legal profession's nobility depends on timely, principled discipline of errant members.
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