SC orders inquiry by BCI into appearance of 'ghost' lawyers, 'fraudulent' settlement of property dispute

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Bar Council of India to hold a detailed inquiry into appearance of 'ghost' lawyers in a case, which misled it to close dispute in regard to a property in Bihar's Muzaffarpur in favour of one party on the basis of a "forged and fraudulent" agreement in 2024.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar told the BCI to submit a report by the end of October 2025.

"The role of advocates involved in preparation of the settlement agreement, its filing and conduct of the proceedings also need to be enquired into," the bench said, adding it was refraining from drawing any conclusion at present.

The court, which earlier sought a report from its registry, heard Supreme Court's Advocate on Record Association president Vipin Nair and others to state that the facts leading to the disposal of the special leave petition in terms of the alleged settlement agreement requires to be examined in detail.

The court scheduled the matter for consideration in November, 2025.

In a special leave petition filed by Bipin Bihari Sinha alias Bipin Prasad Singh, the court had on December 13, 2024 disposed of the matter in favour of the petitioner as it was told the parties have arrived at a settlement on October 24, 2024.

However, respondent Harish Jaiswal through advocate Gyanant Singh filed an application for recall of the order, as he had neither appeared through person or counsel in the matter, nor agreed to the agreement. In fact, the respondent also found that a caveat was fraudulently filed in the matter, "indicative of a well-planned conspiracy orchestrated by the petitioner in collusion with other individuals with the intent of deceiving this court."

Subsequently, when the court sought to know from the advocate on record, it was informed that the said advocate had long stopped law practice.

The court, which recalled its previous order, restored the special leave petition for consideration and directed for inquiry into the matter.