The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea for probe by the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) into the alleged CD row, purportedly involving senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
"The petition is dismissed. The petitioner is seeking a direction to the BCD and the Delhi High Court Bar Association to take action against the employee of the lawyer concerned. "The lawyer's body are not empowered to take action against an employee of an advocate," a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri said.
The court's order came on a plea by a social worker, Sanjay Kumar, seeking an inqury into the CD row allegedly pertaining to Singhvi and a noted woman lawyer of the Delhi High Court.
"Everybody on the street is saying what is happening in the high court. Just to save the image of lawyer's community, an inquiry be ordered," said the petitioner's counsel Sugriv Dubey.
"It is a matter of record that this court has already passed an order in the matter and the PIL (public interest litigation) on the issue cannot be entertained," the bench, also comprising Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, said adding that the lawyers' body cannot take any action against the employee concerned.
"Every employee of a lawyer... has to protect the privacy of an individual and in the preset case it was the duty of the person (Singhv's driver) not to attack the individual's privacy," the PIL said.
Refusing to entertain the plea, the bench said "such things cannot be a subject matter of a public interest litigation."
Earlier, on April 19, Singhvi and his former driver had informed the court they have amicably settled the matter, involving the CD, between them.