Swaran Singh Tiwana restrained from acting as Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association secretary

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, July 26

The Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has restrained Swaran Singh Tiwana to act as secretary of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association (PHHCBA) till the final decision on a complaint of embezzlement of public funds.

The committee is hearing the complaints of alleged embezzlement of public funds on the direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The committee passed the order after going through a report sent by the acting president of the Bar Association, Jasdev Singh Brar.

In the order, the committee stated, “The report of the acting president prima facie indicates embezzlement, which further supports the allegations levelled by the complainant. This report is very succinct and we direct the acting president to file a detailed report, including all the bills and evaluations, on or before the next date of hearing to enable this committee reach a logical conclusion. In the report, no name has been mentioned as to who committed embezzlement/irregularities. But when we look at this complaint and report in a holistic manner, we cannot oversee the fact that only

the president and secretary, who are respondent number 1 and 2, were making all

payments without consulting the treasurer.”

The committee stated that as the matter was related to embezzlement of public funds and the image of legal fraternity was being tarnished due to this alleged event, it was deemed fit to restrain the respondent number 2 from acting as the secretary so that he may not influence the office-bearers, executive/finance committee and accounts officials of the PHHCBA.

The respondent number 2 submitted that the report was false. He sought some time to file a reply to it. However, the panel declined his request saying that “this is not any report filed by the complainant but submitted by the acting president of the PHHCBA. If the respondent number 2 wants to file any reply/response, the same may be filed before the finance committee of the association, which will decide the matter as expeditiously as possible, preferably before the next date of hearing”.

The disciplinary committee has directed the complainant to refrain from meeting the acting president, treasurer or any other office-bearer of the PHHCBA. The committee passed the order after Tiwana alleged that the complainant met the office-bearers daily and exerted pressure on them. However, the complainant denied the charges.