Supreme Court Stays Gujarat High Court Order Convicting GHCAA President

The Supreme Court on Monday 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.

The Supreme 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 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 court's decision comes after a decades-long history of friction between Mr. Oza and the judiciary, including a press conference in 2020 where Mr. Oza called the Gujarat High Court a 'gamblers' den'. The Supreme Court will continue to monitor the case, with the full court of the High Court undertaking periodic reviews of Mr. Oza's conduct.