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SC tells lawyers to keep off client’s family feuds

The apex court declined to pass any order on the remarks and listed the family dispute for hearing in July.

SC tells lawyers to keep off client’s family feuds

Supreme Court of India (Photo: ANI)

The Supreme Court on Friday observed that lawyers should not be involved in the outburst of family members rooted in the family feuds, while hearing an application in connection with remarks made by the former IPL chairman Lalit Modi against senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal told a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice M. M. Sundresh that there was an undertaking that there will be no social media comments. Citing a social media post by Modi against Rohatgi, Sibal said, “We have the URLs… it is being breached”.

However, Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Lalit Modi, said he will show that the undertaking has not been breached.

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The bench then orally observed that it is nothing but the outburst of a family member and lawyers should not be involved in it. It further added, “Parties are mature enough to understand….remove all this”.

Salve informed the court that Modi’s remarks against Rohatgi have been taken down.

The bench said it is not passing any order in this matter and asked Salve to use his good offices to sort it out. Salve said it was an angry outburst and now Lalit Modi’s son is leading the meditation.

The bench noted, “whenever you start to fight like this in the public, it is always detrimental to both parties in any litigation. It only leads to retaliation in a similar manner”.

The bench further added the legal battle is entirely separate, “but do not involve the lawyers…”.

After hearing arguments, the apex court declined to pass any order on the remarks made by Lalit Modi against Rohatgi on social media, and listed the Modi family dispute for hearing in July.

On January 19, the apex court had agreed to hear an application  alleging that 6the former IPL chairman Lalit Modi made some “scurrilous” remarks in a social media post against senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.

In August last year, the apex court had appointed former top court judge Justice R.V. Raveendran as a mediator to settle the family property dispute involving the former IPL head and his mother Bina Modi, wife of late industrialist K K Modi. Rohatgi is one of the lawyers representing Bina Modi in the dispute.

In an Instagram post, Modi had made some comments against Rohatgi. However, later in another post he reportedly apologized to the senior advocate.

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