COMMON ORDER

[Order of the Court was made by R. MAHADEVAN, J]

The prayer made in these two writ petitions is to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondent to enrol the petitioners as advocate in the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry within a time frame to be specified by this Court.

2. The brief facts of the case as averred in the writ petitions, would run thus:

(i)According to the petitioner in WP No. 10186 of 2022, after completing his B.Com. degree in the year 2004, he joined the 3 year LLB course in Sri Krishna Institute of Law, Tumkur, Karnataka during the year 2014 and he was declared as pass only during September 2021, though the course was completed in the year 2017. While so, due to matrimonial dispute, his wife preferred a complaint on 17.08.2017 before the All Women Police Station, Thirumangalam, which was registered as Crime No. 6 of 2017 for the offences punishable under Sections 498 (A), 406, 494 and 506 (ii) IPC and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002 read with Section 109 of IPC against the petitioner, his parents and sister. Pursuant to the said complaint, the petitioner was arrested and was later released on bail. After investigation, a charge sheet was filed in the said case and it was taken on file as C.C. No. 29 of 2018 on the file of I Additional Mahila Court, Egmore, in which, trial is yet to commence. In such circumstances, the petitioner submitted an application for enrolment on 01.12.2021 along with all the requisite documents. In the said application, he has promptly disclosed the pendency of the criminal proceedings initiated against him. However, he was not permitted to enrol himself as an advocate by citing the pendency of the criminal case. Therefore, this writ petition bearing no.10186 of 2022.

(ii) According to the petitioner in WP No. 12315 of 2022, she completed her five year LLB Course in Government Law College, Chengalpattu, in July 2021. After completing the course, she submitted an application for enrolment to the respondent, in which, she has categorically indicated in Column No. 13(b) about the pendency of a criminal case in Crime No. 849 of 2020 on the file of Vengal Police Station, Tiruvallur District, on 11.05.2020 registered against her (A10) for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 188, 269, 294 (b), 323 and 506(i) IPC; and till date, no charge sheet was filed before the jurisdictional court. Though the petitioner was falsely implicated in the said case, due to the pendency of the same, her application seeking enrolment was not considered by the respondent. Therefore, this writ petition by the petitioner.

3. Mr.Sathia Chandran, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would contend that mere registration of first information report against the petitioners should not be put against them to deny the benefit of enrolment as advocate. Adding further, the learned counsel submitted that the criminal proceedings are at nascent stage and the trial of the same would take considerable time and hence, notwithstanding the pendency of the criminal proceedings, the petitioners may be permitted to enrol themselves as advocates by the respondent. The learned counsel also placed reliance on the order dated 06.10.2015 passed by this Court in Crl.OP (MD) No. 14573 of 2014 in S.M. Anantha Murugan v. Chairman, Bar Council of India, New Delhi and others [CDJ 2015 MHC 7352], wherein this court has inter alia issued a direction to the Bar Council of India, to direct the State Bar Councils not to enrol any law graduates with pending criminal cases except bailable cases attracting punishment upto three years and compoundable offences involving matrimonial, family and civil disputes, till the changes are brought in the Advocates Act & Bar Council of India Rules. Thus, according to the learned counsel, the criminal cases pending against the petitioners are arising out of matrimonial dispute and petty issues; the offences involved are compoundable /