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In finding out the meaning of the words "person aggrieved by an order made by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India", two features are to be kept in the fore-front. First, there is no lis in proceedings before the disciplinary committee. When the disciplinary committee exercises the power to reprimand the advocate, or suspend the advocate from practice or remove the name of the advocate, the committee does not decide a suit between the parties. The Bar Council in placing a matter before the disciplinary committee does not act as prosecutor in a criminal case. A complainant who prefers a complaint against an advocate is not like a plaintiff in a civil suit. The complaint is examined by the Bar Council in order to find out whether there is any reason to believe that any advocate has been guilty of misconduct. 'The Bar Council may act on its own initiative on information which has come to its notice in the course of its duties. Second, there is no party to the disciplinary proceedings. It is because the Bar Council, the Attorney-General, the Advocate-General, as the case may be, all act in protecting the interests of advocates, the interests of the public. In so acting there is no conflict between the advocate and another person. The reason is that it is professional conduct, professional etiquette, professional ethics, professional morality, which are to be upheld, transgression of which results in reprimanding the advocate of suspending him from practice or removing his name from the roll.

The interest of the Bar Council is to uphold standards of professional conduct and etiquette in the profession, which is founded upon integrity and mutual trust. The Bar Council acts as the custodian of the high traditions of the noble profession. The grievance of the Bar Council is to be looked at purely from the point of view of standards of professional conduct and etiquette. If any decision of the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India is according to the State Bar Council such as will lower the standards and imperil the high traditions and values in the profession, the State Bar Council is an aggrieved person to safeguard the interests of the public, the interests of the profession and the interests of the Bar The Bar Council is "a person aggrieved" for these reasons First, the words "person aggrieved" in the Act are of wide import in the context of the purpose and provisions of the statute. In disciplinary proceedings before the disciplinary committee there is no lis and there are no parties. therefore, the word "person" will embrace the Bar Council which represents the Bar of the State. Second, the Bar Council is "a person aggrieved" because it represents the collective conscience of the standards of professional conduct and etiquette. The Bar Council acts as the protector of the purity and dignity of the profession. Third, the function of the Bar Council in entertaining complaints against advocates is whn the Bar Council has reasonable belief that there is a prima facie case of misconduct that a disciplinary committee is entrusted with such inquiry. Once an inquiry starts, the Bar Council has no control over its decision. The Bar Council may entrust it to another disciplinary committee or the Bar Council may make a report to the Bar Council of India. This indicates that the Bar Council is all the time interested in the proceedings for the vindication of discipline, dignity and decorum of the profession. Fourth, a decision of a disciplinary committee can only be corrected by appeals as provided under the Act. When the Bar Council initiates proceedings by referring cases of misconduct to disciplinary committee, the Bar Council in the performance of its functions under the Act is interested in the task of seeing that the advocates maintain the proper standards an(l etiquette of the profession. Fifth, the Bar Council is vitally concerned with the decision in the context of the functions of the Bar Council. The Bar Council will have a grievance if the decision prejudices the maintenance of standards of professional conduct and ethics.

The term "lis" is not confined to litigation by means of a suit in a Court of law. In Butler v. Mountgarret it was held that a "suit is not necessary to constitute lis". It was pointed out there that "a family ..controversy capable of being litigated is a lis mota'. In B. Johnson & Co. (Builders) v. Minister of Health(2), Lord Greene, M.R. said: `"Lis implies the conception of an issue joined between two parties, The decision of a lis.. is the decision of that issue".

If the State Bar Council, acting through its through it Executive Committee, has found a prima facie case to be send and tried by its Disciplinary Committee, it performs the functions of a prosecuting agency. lt does so i the discharge of its duty to safeguard '`the rights, privileges and interests' of advocates as a whole on its roll which are affected by the misconduct of an advocate. There arc, therefore, triable issues between it and the; (, individual Advocate accused of misconduct. lt seems to mc that we could and should, therefore, hold that the State Bar Council, in its executive capacity, act as the prosecutor through its Executive Committee There is no incongruity in its Disciplinary Committee, representing is judicial want"

For the reasons given above, I do not see any objection to a participation of State Bar Council in its executive capacity, in a disciplinary proceeding against an Advocate on its roll, either at the initial or the appellate stages. Before it can become a person aggrieved" by an order against which it could appeal, there must have been a "lis" or a dispute to be decided which gives rise to the order complained of. To such a "lis" the State Bar Council, in its executive capacity must be deemed to be a party. Apparently, its interests are presumed to be sufficiently represented by the Advocate General. Hence, it was not considered necessary to provide for its separate representation by a notice to be given by its Disciplinary Committee; is provided for in the case of the Advocate General But, their seems to me to be no legal obstacle in the way of its separate representation, if. it so desires, even before its own Disciplinary Committee. It certainly has notice of every complaint whenever it send it to its Disciplinary Committee. Its right to appeal in any event, as a "person aggrieved", seems squarely covered by the provisions of Sections 37 and 38 of the Act. It may be mentioned here that the respondents themselves treated the Bar Council as a party interested in a "list", so that it could become a "person" aggrieved" by the setting aside of the orders against respondents, when they impleaded the State Bar Council as a respondent in their appeals to the Bar Council India. Its statutory right to appeal to this Court under Section 38 is not affected by the mere fact that it did not put in appearance before the Bar Council of India.