SC stays Bar Council rules for verifying lawyers

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, August 17

The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended the operation of the Bar Council of India (BCI) rules under which the state bar councils have to verify the original certificates of all lawyers by September 30 to weed out those holding fake degrees.

On June 10, the court had exempted the Advocates-on-Record (AoRs) from the BCI drive while hearing a batch of petitions by various AoR associations. It had clarified that it would go into the question of the BCI’s power to amend, through a resolution, the rules under Section 49(1) of the Advocates Act, 1961, making the verification mandatory.

On Wednesday, a Bench comprising Justices MB Lokur and RK Agrawal stayed the rules on a writ petition by the All India Association of Jurists pleading that the Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015, were unconstitutional and in violation of the Advocates Act.

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Representing a large number of advocates, the association said an added condition was sought to be imposed on lawyers for letting them practise. The Advocates Act prescribed the qualification as well as the disqualification for advocates. The fresh rules inserting an additional qualification did not find any support from the substantive provisions of the Advocates Act, it pleaded.