ORDER

R.K. Agrawal, J.

The present transferred case has originated owing to the steps taken by the Bar Council of India to cause an enquiry and to find out fake lawyers out of its members and/or not even a member of the Bar Councils and/or member of any Bar Association of the country. While countering, Bar Council of India has submitted that steps have been taken in the matter in accordance with the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Rules framed thereunder to come to a conclusion and to find out such number of fake lawyers in the country and only thereafter the elections to the State Bar Councils can be held.

2. This Court, vide order dated 05.10.2015, directed that all the matters which are pending in different High Courts in connection with the matter in question be transferred to this court for hearing while refusing to grant stay in respect of giving effect to the Notification in connection with the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015.

3. Further, in pursuance thereto, this court, vide order dated 02.11.2015, directed that the persons who are not members of the Bar Association of any State or District or otherwise to carry on their profession, the certificate which has been asked for by the Bar Council of India to be attached with the application form that should be taken into account by the respective Bar Councils allowing them to apply and thereby on such application concerned, Bar Council will take necessary steps to find out the correct position in respect of those persons. It was further made clear that the persons who were practicing as a conveyancing lawyer or otherwise or in terms of the Rules of Advocates Act in any manner whatsoever, they should not be interfered with carrying on their practice in such manner whatsoever by the Bar Council of India, if they are legally enrolled through the Bar Councils.

4. Heard learned counsel for both the sides on the question of holding elections to the State Bar Councils at the earliest and perused the records.

5. Learned senior counsel for the Bar Council of India admitted that the work relating to verification is very slow as the States where Advocate Generals are functioning as the Chairman of the State Bar Councils and elections are due, they are unable to spare time for the affairs of the State Bar Councils due to heavy workload. Further, no verification of certificates/degrees have been undertaken for LLB Graduates seeking enrolment after July 2010 and the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) cannot be said to be proof of having a valid degree of any candidate. In order to expedite the process of verification of degrees, the Bar Council of India proposes to constitute a Central Verification Committee of the Bar Council of India headed by a former Judge of this Court for the purpose of transparent and fair verification.

6. To put it in a nutshell, the petitioners are requesting for immediate elections of the State Bar Council as the term has expired long back whereas the Bar Council of India is pressing for the need of verification of the candidates to eliminate fake lawyers in order to bring improvement in the Bar and to get deserving practicing advocates for the respective Bar Councils.

7. We have been informed by learned senior counsel for the Bar Council of India as well as the respective State Bar Councils that the process of verification is not completed yet. In view of that, to do complete justice to the parties, it would be proper for us to provide a last opportunity for the same as mentioned below:-

(1) 15 (fifteen) days' time be given to cure the defective applications by the concerned Advocates and to all such advocates to submit their complete application forms for necessary verification of their degrees if they have not submitted the same earlier, from the date of publication of advertisement in two leading newspapers, one in English language and the other in regional language having wide circulation in the respective State/Union Te