Singhvi, Rohatgi on same side, want SC library with no names

The controversy surrounding the re-naming of a library inside the Supreme Court finally appears to have blown away. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi wrote a joint letter to the SCBA objecting to its move to drop eminent jurist LM Singhvi’s plaque.

The controversy surrounding the re-naming of a library inside the Supreme Court finally appears to have blown away. Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mukul Rohatgi wrote a joint letter to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) objecting to its move to drop eminent jurist LM Singhvi’s plaque and rename the library in Justice AB Rohatgi’s name.

This prompted the SCBA’s executive committee to withdraw last month’s resolution to discontinue calling library no 2 as LM Singhvi library after his son AM Singhvi turned down the association’s demand to pay Rs 20 lakh for its renovation. It was decided instead to name the library after Mukul Rohatgi’s father, Justice Rohatgi, since the senior advocate had spent Rs 25 lakh on refurbishment.

On Friday, the executive committee held a meeting under PH Parekh’s chairmanship to consider the joint letter by Singhvi and Rohatgi that spoke of ending the “unsavoury situation.” Both advised the association to stop the practice of attaching names to the library.

“The primary object of the SCBA is to promote and protect the privileges, interests and dignity of the Association. We have both spent an entire lifetime in the Bar and neither of us appreciates in the least this highly avoidable controversy,” the two said.

SCBA secretary Aysweria Bhatti said the association had passed a resolution but refused to divulge the details of the meeting. The SCBA had come under severe flak after it dropped LM Singhvi’s name.

Senior advocates including Rajeev Dhawan and PP Rao condemned the move, saying renaming the library after accepting money amounted to auctioning it.