Conviction of GHCAA president: Supreme Court keeps in abeyance Gujarat HC order

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 11, 2026 01:56 pm IST - New Delhi Image used for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Supreme Court on Monday (May 11, 2026) kept in abeyance an order of the Gujarat High Court convicting Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association president Yatin Oza and sentencing him till the rising of the court for making scandalous remarks against the State judiciary. The High Court had also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on Mr. Oza and said that in case of default, he would have to undergo simple imprisonment for two months. Mr. Oza was elected as the GHCAA president for the 19th time on December 20, 2025. In a judgment pronounced today, a top court bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.S. Chandurkar directed that the full court of the High Court shall undertake a periodic review of the appellant's conduct at an interval of every two years in the light of the undertaking submitted by him. "The reasons assigned in the impugned order by the High Court do not warrant any interference by this court. "Yet, extending a final act of forgiveness, we are inclined to exercise our power under Article 142 of the Constitution to suspend/ keep in abeyance the conviction as well as sentence of the appellant as a consequence of this judgment indefinitely," the bench said. The top court said it is seized of Mr. Oza's appeal against the High Court's October 6, 2020, verdict, in which he was convicted. However, the execution of the sentence was suspended for 60 days. The top court later continued the suspension of the sentences awarded by the High Court. Later, the full court of the high court resolved to recall the restoration of Mr. Oza's "Senior Advocate" designation following a fresh incident of alleged misconduct in April 2024. According to documents, the latest resolution follows what is being described as the "sixth incident" in a decades-long history of friction between Mr. Oza and the judiciary. On April 9, 2024, during the hearing of a writ petition, Mr. Oza allegedly accused the presiding judge of "forum shopping". The full court, after reviewing a video clip of the proceedings, noted that Mr. Oza appeared in the court on behalf of a respondent without a briefing counsel or a formal power of appearance. The full court's April 15, 2024, decision stated that Mr. Oza's behaviour was "unbecoming of a senior advocate" and that his remarks were intended to "browbeat the court". In 2020, Mr. Oza, at a press conference, called the Gujarat High Court a "gamblers' den". The high court previously stripped Mr. Oza of his senior designation in July 2020. However, in October 2021, the Supreme Court exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to restore Mr. Oza's gown for a two-year probationary period starting January 1, 2022, calling it his "one more and last chance". court administration / Supreme Court / Gujarat Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Conviction of GHCAA president: Supreme Court keeps in abeyance Gujarat HC order

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Conviction of GHCAA president: Supreme Court keeps in abeyance Gujarat HC order

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