Adish Aggarwala

Dr. Adish Chandra Aggarwala Sr.
Born (1956-09-30) 30 September 1956
Rohtak, Punjab, India (now in Haryana)
OccupationsDesignated Senior Advocate, Jurist
OrganizationInternational Council of Jurists
SpouseSaroj Aggarwala

Adish C. Aggarwala is an Indian senior advocate, jurist, bar leader and author. He served as Chairman of All India Bar Association,[1] and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) during 2023–2024, after previously serving as its vice-president.[2][3]

He is also President of the International Council of Jurists.,[4] in which capacity he has led jurists' delegations and made representations concerning public and international-law issues.[5]

Career

In 2024, the Supreme Court of India marked electoral bonds as "unconstitutional",[6] and requested the State Bank of India to comply with SC and release details regarding the origins of bonds. In March 2024, Aggarwala, under the office of the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, submitted a request to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu arguing for an intervention on her end.[7] This was met with a condemnation by the SCBA, arguing that the "members of the committee have neither authorised the President (Aggarwala) to write any such letter nor do they subscribe to his views as expressed therein."[8]

In 2015, Aggarwala published Narendra Modi - A Charismatic & Visionary Statesman (with Sarah J. Marchington), which contains forewords from several Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members.

Before his election as SCBA President in May 2023, Aggarwala had served as vice-president of the association.[2] In the 2023 presidential election, he received 668 votes, while Dushyant Dave received 477, Rajesh Kumar Khanna 426 and Ranjit Kumar 304.[2][3]

Professional profiles identify Aggarwala as a former Senior Additional Advocate General of Haryana and a former Additional Advocate General of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The exact appointment dates and terms require citation to government notifications or gazette records.

President of the International Council of Jurists

As ICJ President, Aggarwala has acted as the organisation's principal public representative in reported delegations, conferences, award programmes and legal representations. The organisation is registered in the United Kingdom as company number 06407095.[9]

In April 2020, acting as ICJ President, he filed a complaint before the United Nations Human Rights Council seeking an inquiry and reparations from China in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak.[10] The allegations contained in the complaint were claims made by Aggarwala and the organisation and should not be stated as established facts.

In June 2023, Aggarwala announced that a delegation of retired judges and senior jurists led by him would unfurl the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, Srinagar.[5][11] He said that the initiative was intended to convey his assessment of conditions in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and to counter Pakistan's narrative on Kashmir.[5] Organisational correspondence from 2025 also records requests for official permission, security cover and a personal security officer for a proposed further flag-unfurling programme; no independent public report of a specific personal threat has been located.

In 2012, Aggarwala led a 106-member delegation of Indian lawyers that petitioned Pakistan's Interior Minister concerning holy-city status for Hasan Abdal, the town in which Gurdwara Panja Sahib is located. News reports stated that the minister gave the delegation an assurance concerning the proposed status.[12]

In July 2022, amid public allegations concerning Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza, Aggarwala said that Mirza had neither been invited to nor attended the 2010 International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights at Vigyan Bhawan, while former Vice-president Hamid Ansari had attended that conference. Aggarwala called for an inquiry concerning reports about a different 2009 conference. Ansari denied having invited or met Mirza.[13]

Supreme Court Bar Association presidency and public interventions

In March 2024, after the Supreme Court struck down the electoral-bonds scheme, Aggarwala wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking a presidential reference. The SCBA Executive Committee stated that it had not authorised the letter, did not subscribe to the views expressed in it and condemned what it described as an attempt to overreach or undermine the Supreme Court.[14]

In January 2024, ahead of the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, Aggarwala requested the Chief Justice of India to advise benches not to pass adverse orders because lawyers and litigants could be absent on 22 January.[15] The available reports concern court administration and do not identify him as counsel in the Supreme Court's Ram Janmabhoomi title litigation.

Aggarwala publicly supported the enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita,[16] and welcomed the Supreme Court's December 2023 judgment concerning Article 370.[17]

Writing and publications

Aggarwala co-authored Narendra Modi: Harbinger of Prosperity & Apostle of World Peace with American writer Elisabeth Horan. The work was released in 2020 in ten foreign languages - English, Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish - and ten Indian languages - Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.[18]

In 2015, Aggarwala and British writer Sarah J. Marchington co-authored Narendra Modi: A Charismatic & Visionary Statesman.[19] A revised 672-page edition was launched in 2018.[20]

His later work Modi's Niti Shastra: The World's His Oyster examines governance, legislative and criminal-law reforms, welfare policy, Article 370, triple talaq and the Ram temple. The final manuscript identifies Aggarwala as the author and contains a message by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A publisher catalogue, ISBN or independent review should be cited when available.[21]

Selected works

  • The Constitution of India
  • Narendra Modi: A Charismatic & Visionary Statesman (with Sarah J. Marchington)
  • Narendra Modi: Harbinger of Prosperity & Apostle of World Peace (with Elisabeth Horan)
  • Modi's Niti Shastra: The World's His Oyster

References

  1. ↑ "All India Bar Association". Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Adish Aggarwala takes reins of Supreme Court Bar". India Business Law Journal. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Senior Advocate Adish Aggarwala elected President of Supreme Court Bar Association". Bar & Bench. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "International Council of Jurists". Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "Jurists to visit Jammu; ICJ chief to hoist Tricolour at Lal Chowk". The Times of India. June 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Electoral bonds: SBI files compliance affidavit, says 22,217 bonds were purchased and 22,030 redeemed". The Economic Times. 13 March 2024. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  7. ↑ PTI (12 March 2024). "SCBA chief urges President Murmu to seek reference of SC verdict on electoral bonds". BusinessLine. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  8. ↑ API, CUE (13 March 2024). "SCBA resolution condemns its chief's letter to Prez Murmu on electoral bonds verdict". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  9. ↑ "International Council of Jurists: company overview". Companies House. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "ICJ moves UNHRC against China for Covid-19 reparations". The Times of India. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Supreme Court Bar Association president to unfurl national flag at Lal Chowk". Greater Kashmir. June 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Pak to declare town of Punja Sahib gurudwara holy". Hindustan Times. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Senior advocate shares pic of Hamid Ansari with Pakistani journalist; BJP backs claims". India TV. 15 July 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "'Attempt to undermine Supreme Court authority': SC Bar Association on head Adish Aggarwala's letter to President on electoral bonds". The Indian Express. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "SC Bar Association requests CJI not to pass adverse orders over absence of lawyers due to Ayodhya ceremony". The New Indian Express. 21 January 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "New penal laws have Bharat's soul and spirit: SC Bar chief Adish Aggarwala". ANI. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Historical and Momentous decision, say BCI, SCBA, legal experts on SC verdict on Article 370". ANI. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  18. ↑ "New biography on PM Modi released". The Times of India. Press Trust of India. 31 May 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  19. ↑ "New biography of Narendra Modi containing his rare photos to hit the shelves". The Times of India. 16 September 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "New 672-page coffee-table book chronicling Modi's life unveiled". The Economic Times. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  21. ↑ Aggarwala, Adish C. (2026). Modi's Niti Shastra: The World's His Oyster.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.