The Independent Legal Services Commission (ILSC) has formally branded lawyer Rajendra Pal Chaudhry a fugitive from Fiji and ordered he be struck off the Roll of Legal Practitioners of the High Court of Fiji, in a sanction ruling delivered on March 23 by Commissioner Justice Daniel Goundar.
Chaudhry, a New Zealand–based lawyer, was earlier found guilty of two counts of professional misconduct arising from a March 9, 2018 Facebook post in which he denigrated three judges of the Fiji Court of Appeal. In the March 23 ruling the ILSC said those public attacks were inflammatory, disrespectful and went beyond acceptable criticism, amounting to conduct capable of undermining public confidence in the judiciary.
The commission also treated Chaudhry’s continued presence in New Zealand, and his failure to serve a custodial sentence or pay a court-imposed fine from earlier contempt proceedings, as a significant aggravating factor. “The Respondent has neither served the sentence nor paid the fine, as he remains in New Zealand and is regarded as a fugitive,” the ruling stated, noting that those contempt findings flowed from a series of social media posts the High Court had found scandalous.
Justice Goundar highlighted a pattern of repeated misconduct stretching back over a decade. The ruling recalled a 2012 finding of professional misconduct for discourtesy toward a High Court judge and later contempt convictions in 2018–19. The commissioner concluded that Chaudhry’s conduct showed a clear and escalating trajectory, and that he had offered no apology, shown no remorse and taken no steps toward rehabilitation.
Given the cumulative seriousness of the breaches and the need to safeguard public confidence in legal institutions, the ILSC determined that striking Chaudhry off the roll was the only appropriate sanction. The order directs that his name be removed from the Roll of Legal Practitioners of the High Court of Fiji and mandates that the commission circulate the decision to legal regulatory bodies in New South Wales and New Zealand for any further action.
The ruling marks the latest development in a long-running disciplinary matter and underscores the cross-border enforcement challenges that arise when a practitioner subject to domestic sanctions is resident abroad. By notifying overseas authorities, the ILSC has signalled it expects other jurisdictions to consider the Fiji decision in their own regulatory processes, though the ruling does not itself compel foreign courts to act.
Chaudhry’s current whereabouts and any response to the ILSC decision were not addressed in the sanction ruling beyond the commission’s finding that he remains in New Zealand. The March 23 order will formally remove his name from Fiji’s roll and initiate circulation to interstate and international legal bodies as the commission seeks to ensure the regulatory outcome is communicated beyond Fiji.
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