Overview

• Bhadrak-based advocate Hemant Kumar Nayak was barred from practice for two years on Monday by the Odisha State Bar Council.
• The council said he operated a Facebook profile named “Grants Kumar Nayak Canakya” that carried defamatory remarks and corruption imputations against judicial officers in Bhadrak.
• The disciplinary case was opened suo motu after the posts surfaced, with Nayak ignoring repeated show-cause notices and questioning the council’s authority online.
• The committee concluded his conduct amounted to professional misconduct under Section 35 of the Advocates Act and recorded a finding of guilt.
• Chairman Bibhu Prasad Tripathy described such suspensions as rare and said the action sought to protect the judiciary’s image, while Nayak has not provided a public response.