The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved orders on a batch of petitions challenging the Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules of 2015 which requires a mass verification of lawyers’ credentials to weed out fake practitioners.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) submitted before a Bench led by Justice R.K. Agrawal that the verification was still on and reports have been received from various State Bar Councils. The BCI informed the court that out of over 15 lakh enrolled advocates, over six lakh have submitted verification forms.
The BCI said a high-level verification committee has been formed under former Supreme Court judge, Justice Anil R. Dave. The panel has already met with State Bar Councils.
The Bench however, expressed concern that the verification process could stall elections to the State bar councils and said it would pass orders on the petitions on November 24.
The petitions have alleged that the resolution by the apex lawyers’ body on January 13, 2015 titled 'Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015’ was unconstitutional and violative of the Advocates Act.
“The BCI does not have the power to add to the conditions of enrolment as expressly laid down under Section 24 (1) of the Advocates Act,” one of the petitions argued.
