SC sets up panel headed by ex-judge Deepak Gupta to oversee verification of over 25 lakh lawyers

The Supreme Court Monday ordered setting up of a high-powered committee headed by former apex court judge Justice Deepak Gupta to monitor the process of verification of certificate of law practice and other educational degrees of over 25 lakh lawyers in the country, saying it was of “utmost importance” to preserve the administration of justice.

The move comes amid allegations of lawyers with fake degrees practising in courts across the country.

Asking lawyers to participate in the exercise, the bench said non-verification of advocates, intended to weed out the fake ones, will bring the administration of justice under serious cloud.

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“The verification of lawyers’ degree and certificate to practice is of utmost importance to preserve the administration of justice,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chadrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said.

Besides Justice Gupta, the committee will comprise former Delhi High Court Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and retired Allahabad High Court judge Arun Tandon, it said.

Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Maninder Singh will also be on the panel which will have three members nominated by the Bar Council of India (BCI), it said.

The Committee has been asked to start work on a convenient date and to file a status report to the bench by August 31.

"It is the duty of every genuine advocate of the country to ensure that they cooperate with the BCI in seeking to ensure that the certificates of practice are duly verified together with the underlying education degree certificate. Unless this exercise is carried out periodically, there is a great danger that the administration of justice would itself be under a serious cloud,” the bench said.

It noted the submissions of senior advocate and BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra that lawyers without verification have become members of some State Bar Councils and that such persons may also have held judicial officers' posts.

The bench said the access to the judicial process cannot be granted to people who profess to be lawyers but do not have genuine educational qualifications or degree certificates.

The bench took note of the submissions that the universities have been demanding fees from bar bodies for verifying certificates of enrolled lawyers and directed that such universities and examination boards should verify genuineness of degrees without charging any fee.

“All universities and examination boards shall verify the genuineness of degrees without charging any fee and requisition by the state bar councils shall be processed without undue delay,” it ordered.

Law graduates are required to get enrolled with the state bar councils for practising law and currently there are 25.70 lakh enrolled lawyers in the country.

In 2015, the BCI had notified the BCI Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules 2015 to identify genuine lawyers. The Rules were challenged before various High Courts and the cases were ultimately transferred to the Supreme Court.

The order came on the transfer plea earlier moved by the BCI.