The due verification of advocates is essential to preserve the integrity of the administration of justice.

JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, CJI.

1. The petitioner, who is a practising advocate, has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court to seek two distinct reliefs. The first of them is for challenging an office order dated 1 November 2022 of the Bar Council of India to all the State Bar Councils, the purport of which (according to the petitioner) was to interdict the process of verification of advocates who are enrolled with the State Bar Councils for scrutinizing the genuineness of their degrees and enrollments. The second issue deals with the method of co-opting members of the State Bar Councils to fill up casual vacancies.

2. We have heard Mr. Anand Nandan, counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and Mr. Manan Kumar Mishra, senior counsel, appearing on behalf of the Bar Council of India with Mr. Apurba Kumar Sharma.

3. In 2015, the Bar Council of India notified the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015,¹[“2015 Rules”]. The process of verification of the certificates and place of practice commenced with efforts by the State Bar Councils and the Bar Council of India.

4. The 2015 Rules were challenged before several High Courts, including the High Court of Delhi. A Transfer Petition was instituted before this Court by the Bar Council of India. The proceedings pending before diverse High Courts were transferred to this Court in Transferred Case (Civil) No 126 of 2015.

5. The Bar Council of India constituted a High Powered Committee for monitoring the process of verification which was headed by a former Judge of the Supreme Court, two former Judges of the High Courts and three members of the Bar Council of India.

6. The process of verification encountered difficulties as a result of the charges which were demanded by the Universities for verification of the educational certificates of the advocates. On 1 March 2017, a two-Judge Bench of this Court issued a direction to all the Universities not to demand charges for verification of educational certificates.

7. The process of verification has consumed time as the number of advocates which stood at 16 lakh, at the material time, is estimated to be almost 25.70 lakh, at the present. The counter affidavit which has been filed by the Bar Council of India indicates the State-wise position in regard to verification of enrolled advocates. The tabulated statement is produced below :

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8. The above statement indicates that out of 20.57 lakh advocates, about 7.55 lakh forms were received for the purpose of verification. Senior advocates and advocates-on-record were only required to issue a declaration and, accordingly, 1.99 lakh declarations have been received. The total number of forms received is, thus, 9.22 lakhs, as indicated in the above table.

9. The above table indicates that a majority of advocates enrolled with the State Bar Councils have not submitted their verification forms. The Bar Council of India apprehends that many advocates who have not submitted their forms for verification are persons who are not qualified or are “in possession of fake degrees”. The Bar Council of India has submitted and, with justification, that this class of persons, without the possession of qualifications required for law practice, is known to enter upon the arena of courts for extraneous purposes, including the disruption of work. The Bar Council of India is justified in asserting that such persons have to be identified and weeded out from the list of advocates enrolled with the Bar Councils.

10. The due verification of advocates who are enrolled with the State Bar Councils, is of utmost importance to preserve the integrity of the administration of justice. Persons who profess to be lawyers, but do not either have the educational qualifications or degree certificates on the basis of which they could have lawfully granted entry to the Bar, pose a grave danger to the administration of justice to citizens. Hence, it is the duty of every genuine advocate of the