Gujarat Bar Council extends verification deadline, thousands of lawyers risk losing voting rights

The Gujarat Bar Council elections are likely to be held in January, but over 40,000 lawyers across the state are yet to submit their verification forms following the Supreme Court’s directive.

The state’s bar council has decided to extend the deadline for submission of verification forms till November 30. 

The council has once again urged all lawyers in the state to take the matter seriously and submit their verification forms within the stipulated time in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directives.

Speaking about the current status of the verification process in Gujarat, Anil C Kella, member of the Bar Council’s Verification Committee and chairman of the Finance Committee, said that around 24,000 lawyers have submitted their verification forms in the past month alone. 

In all, about 56,000 lawyers have completed the verification process so far. He added that the council is considering including only those verified lawyers in the voter list.

However, around 40,000 lawyers in the state are yet to fill out their verification forms. If their forms are not submitted and their educational certificates have not been verified by the respective universities or institutions, it will be impossible to include them as voters.

Consequently, there is growing concern that these unverified lawyers may lose their right to vote in the upcoming Bar Council elections. The council has therefore urged all such lawyers to promptly fill and submit their verification forms before the deadline to ensure their inclusion in the voter list.

Kella further added that the Supreme Court has issued key directives to hold elections for all state bar councils by January 31, and with the Gujarat Bar Council elections likely in January, completing the verification process beforehand is crucial. Similar delays are being reported from other states as well.

Despite repeated warnings and directions from the top court to speed up the verification process aimed at identifying bogus and ghost lawyers across the country, including Gujarat, the exercise has progressed only about 50% even after 10 years. 

Thousands of lawyers in Gujarat risk losing their right to vote in the crucial and highly prestigious Bar Council elections due to lack of verification.

The Bar Council of India had earlier instructed all state bar councils, including Gujarat, to complete the process of collecting practice verification forms along with relevant documents for lawyers enrolled up to February 2022.