Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has responded to demands for his resignation, saying that he will remain chairman "as long as the country’s lawyers and voters want him to stay."
The statement comes as BCI co-chairman YR Sadashiva Reddy demanded on Saturday that Mishra resign, alleging irregularities in appointments, diversion of Council funds, financial dealings involving law colleges, and other governance issues.
In a letter dated August 22, Reddy sought Mishra’s resignation and called for an independent investigation into the allegations.
He also demanded that there be a special meeting of the BCI to consider the issues in the notice.
“I address this communication to you not as an adversary, but as an elected member of the Bar Council of India, presently holding the office of co-chairman, and as a member of this profession for over three decades,” he said in the letter.
He alleged that the directive to exclude the 2026 graduating batch of NALSAR from being enrolled was sent out before the matter was deliberated upon by the council.
Mishra, who spoke to ANI on Saturday responded saying that he is an elected representative and that it was his seventh term.
“I have been elected unopposed for the last six terms. Even today, more than two-thirds of the Bar Council members support me. If a handful of individuals are making baseless allegations, whether regarding a trust or the appointment of a relative, there is no substance to them. These unfounded claims are surfacing only now,” he said.
Co-chairman Reddy’s letter had also made claims of a Rs 150 crore transfer from the BCI to BCI Trust PEARL-First, which Reddy said was created after the BCI Trust was allowed to fall into disuse. He had questioned the creation of the trust and said that BCI members were not shown its trust deed.
Responding to the Trust allegation, Mishra said, “Regarding the trust, its entire functioning is completely transparent. The managing trustees include distinguished individuals, Bar Council members and senior advocates. Anyone is welcome to examine the accounts; the trust undergoes an annual audit. The audit report is incorporated into the budget, published, and made available in the public domain.”
He also said that Reddy was "not a co-chairman" and that his statements had "no value at all."
"He has been a member of the Bar Council of India for the last eight and a half years. But throughout those eight and a half years, he has never opened his mouth. Now he is talking about a trust of which he himself is a trustee. Therefore, these baseless allegations levelled by Mr Reddy have no meaning at all," he said.
He also said that the allegations by the CJP were baseless and dismissed them as frivolous.
Earlier CJP spokesperson Saurav Das had demanded the BCI chair's resignation in a post on X saying, “Moral responsibility commands that Manan Kumar Mishra resigns. Cockroaches both inside and outside courts should ensure this happens,” he wrote on X.
“These baseless allegations are being made by a few individuals, such as those from the CJP, who have no connection to the Bar Council. They have even gone so far as to call lawyers "legal cockroaches". This is deeply shameful for the legal fraternity, and the community of lawyers will never tolerate such baseless and frivolous remarks,” he continued.
“Manan Mishra will remain president as long as the country's lawyers, the voters, want him to stay," he said.
