New Delhi: The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has called for the removal of Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, weeks after he attempted to ban an entire batch of Nalsar University of Law students. The call comes as a demand for Mishra’s resignation was formally raised during a General Council meeting held at the BCI office on Saturday, reports Live Law.In their letter released Saturday (August 22), CJAR, a collective of eminent advocates and civil rights activists including Prashant Bhushan, Vipul Mudgal, Annie Raja, Nikhil Dey, Apar Gupta and Anjali Bharadwaj has raised numerous concerns including a CBI probe against a trust run by Mishra and his “indefinite” stint as BCI head.The letter, released to the public, has been addressed to state bar councils, the Supreme Court and the legal fraternity.Also on Saturday, BCI co-chairman senior advocate Y.R. Sadashiva Reddy released a letter he has sent to Mishra, demanding his immediate resignation, or in any case, “within 15 days”. He cites diversion of Rs 150 crore funds, family appointments, and illegal action against Nalsar students as the reasons.Reddy’s letter alleges that law colleges approaching BCI for approval or renewal are pressurised to make “contributions” to BCI Trust PEARL, which he said was instituted in place of the Bar Council of India Trust. He has called for an immediate halt to contributions, donations or payments from law colleges, universities or related trusts and bodies to the BCI or trusts associated with it.In the letter, Reddy alleged that this trust received a transfer of roughly Rs 150 crore from BCI funds, despite objections from several BCI members, Live Law reports.Mishra has denied the allegations related to the trust and financial impropriety. The Times of India reports that he has also rejected demands for his resignation, saying he holds the support of “25 lakh” advocates.CBI probe, control over BCI, nepotistic appointmentsBoth CJAR and BCI’s co-chairman say a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is pending against Mishra regarding a trust (BCI Trust Pearl-First Trust), which he allegedly set up and in which he made himself a lifetime trustee.“This trust took over the funds of an earlier trust set up by the BCI (Bar Council of India Trust). This taking over of the funds as well as their utilisation is being enquired into by the CBI,” said CJAR.Reddy, too, demands an independent audit of the BCI and BCI PEARL-First Trust, from its registration to the present, and said the report must be circulated to members and published.CJAR’s demands include resignation of the current BCI chairman and an investigation into decisions taken during his tenure, specifically the activities of the trust he created.CJAR has also questioned Mishra’s continued tenure at the helm of the BCI for over a decade, saying it flouts the rules and conventions. Under the Advocates Act, 1961, the BCI chairman has a two-year term, it says. A proviso to Section 4(3) allows a sitting member to continue until a successor is elected, CJAR’s letter points out. However, it says, this provision has been used to keep Mishra in office indefinitely rather than facilitate periodic rotation.“This has enabled the concentration of power in a single office-bearer for over a decade and is an indictment of the BCI’s failure to reform itself from within,” said CJAR.Meanwhile, a petition has also been filed in the Supreme Court challenging Mishra’s continuation as BCI chairman, the Times of India reports. Filed by advocate Yogamaya M.G. through advocate Deepak Prakash, the plea alleges that his uninterrupted tenure for more than a decade is contrary to the rules governing the BCI.As Mishra is also a BJP Rajya Sabha member representing Bihar since 2024, CJAR said the BCI should safeguard the independence of the legal profession and legal education, rather than function as a “permanent political perch”.The plea before the Supreme Court has also challenged an April 21, 2025 Gazette notification that allegedly extended Mishra’s tenure until 2030.CJAR demands an inquiry into Mishra’s “questionable actions” during his tenure, including the formation and misuse of the trust, opaque and non-transparent decision making and orders, and steps to prevent “unilateral” actions againt lawyers and law students in the future.It has demanded full public disclosure of BCI’s finances and disciplinary record during Mishra’s tenure. The organisation has also sought a binding two-term (or time-bound) limit on the office of BCI Chairman and Vice-Chairman.At the same time, BCI co-chair Reddy has said in his letter that a “striking proportion” of BCI staff are personally connected to Mishra, including people who are members of or related to his family. he says he could find “a single advertisement, a single selection committee proceeding, or a single comparative merit list” justifying those appointments.“The Bar Council of India is not the personal estate of any individual,” Reddy wrote, saying he he has watched the institution from within for a decade and believes it will not recover while Mishra remains in the chair.Meanwhile, the BCI member from Kerala Manoj Kumar Narendran has placed a call for Mishra’s resignation before the General Council. His demand received support from another BCI member from Uttar Pradesh, Advocate Srinath Tripathi, Live Law reports.“Branding protesting students as anti-national merely because they dissent from or oppose those in authority is wholly inconsistent with the constitutional values which the legal profession is duty-bound to protect,” Narendran wrote in a letter addressed to Mishra sent on Saturday.Mishra’s supporters mobiliseManan Mishra on Saturday shared a video of advocates raising slogans in his favour, as calls for his resignation spread across courts in the country. “Grateful to the legal fraternity. Humbled by your continued trust and support,” he wrote on X.He told ANI he enjoys the support of over two-thirds of the BCI and will continue in his post as long as he had that support.Members of the bar support Manan Kumar Mishra. Credit: X/@MishraManan01He also responded to the allegations in Reddy’s letter. Bar and Bench reports Mishra saying that Reddy supported the Congress party and that his statements were “out of political vendetta”. He said the allegations against him are “baseless” and coming from “those such as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)”.The CJP was one of the earliest outfits to demand Mishra’s resignation and has held that stand.“Now the BCI’s co-chairman has asked him to resign citing that the lawyers deserve better. A huge question mark on financial decisions by Mishra,” CJP national spokesperson Saurav Das wrote on X.“He belongs to another political party and normally supports Congress people. Therefore, it’s all a political vendetta and a political stunt. He has been the member of the BCI for the last about eight and a half years…But he has never [before] opened his mouth,” Mishra said.Denying the allegations of financial impropriety, Mishra said the trust was completely transparent and that its managing trustees included bar council members and senior advocates.“Anyone is welcome to examine the accounts. The trust undergoes an annual audit. The audit report is incorporated into the budget, published and made available in the public domain,” Mishra said.Mishra’s apologyAlthough the directive to not enrol students was later withdrawn by Mishra, CJAR said that does not address the conduct that led to Mishra directing the Nalsar vice-chancellor to take action against students and for bar councils to suspend their registration. The organisation backed the Bombay Bar Association’s resolution describing the original letter from Mishra to Nalsar as “an abuse… of the office of the Chairman”.Students of law universities, including Nalsar and NLSIU Bangalore, had demanded an unconditional apology from Mishra for his remarks about them and the action he had sought to take against the graduating batch of 2026, after a section of them opposed inviting Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to their convocation.The association had also said the students were not given an opportunity to be heard and that Mishra’s subsequent apology could not substitute for his resignation.CJAR said an office-bearer with regulatory powers who threatens the careers of law graduates for exercising their right to protest and free expression has demonstrated “unfitness to continue holding that office”. It said the episode was consistent with a pattern of unilateral decision-making by Mishra.