SC asks Delhi police commissioner to ensure presence of lawyer for making ‘scandalous’ remarks

The Supreme Court directed the Delhi police commissioner on Friday to ensure the appearance of lawyer Mukut Nath Verma, who has allegedly made “scandalous and frivolous” allegations against apex court judges and the members of the election committee set up for conducting the SCBA polls.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was apprised by Supreme Court Bar Association President and senior advocate Vikas Singh and senior lawyer Vijay Hansaria, who also heads the SCBA election panel, that the Delhi Police was unable to trace and execute the bailable warrants issued against the lawyer earlier.

The court, which was hearing a 2023 plea of the SCBA on reforms in the association, had earlier taken a strong note of “a scandalous and frivolous complaint made by one Dr Mukut Nath Verma, Advocate, to the Tilak Marg police station against members of the Election Committee constituted by this court for conducting SCBA elections”.

The bench had directed the lawyer to remain present in court on May 29, 2025, and said if he failed to appear, coercive steps would be taken to secure his presence.

On May 29 last year, Varma appeared before the court online, but the court insisted on his physical presence.

Later, bailable warrants were issued against Varma but those were returned with a finding that police could not trace him.

Now, the court has directed the police commissioner to ensure Varma’s presence before it on February 23 by using “lawful coercive measures”.

In the meanwhile, the court asked SCBA secretary Pragya Baghel to collate the suggestions of the bar body, retired apex court judge L N Rao and Hansaria in a tabular form for passing necessary directions.

Hansaria suggested that the tenure of the elected representative of the SCBA should be two years as against the existing one year, on the lines of the Supreme Court Advocate-on-Records Association (SCAoRA).

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The SCBA president suggested that the physical appearances of lawyers before apex court benches be given primacy for enabling them to be voters of the apex bar body and weed out fake ones.

He referred to an instance where a person, running a marriage bureau, was registered as an SCBA member, eligible to vote in its elections.

The bench said it will pass directions after taking note of the collated suggestions on the next date of hearing.