Gujarat Bar Council orders 53,000 lawyers to complete verification after BCI’s directives

The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly called for completion of the verification process to identify bogus or ‘ghost’ lawyers across the country. However, 10 years later, only about 50% of the process has been completed in Gujarat and other states. 

Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has issued directives to all state bar councils, including the Gujarat Bar Council, to ensure that lawyers enrolled up to February 2022 fill out the practice verification form along with relevant documents within 30 days. However, more than 53,000 lawyers in Gujarat have still not submitted their verification forms.

To remove ghost lawyers from the legal profession, the Supreme Court itself had issued significant directions in 2015 mandating verification of lawyers across the country. 

Since then, state bar councils had begun  the process of lawyer verification. But, a decade later, the process remains incomplete. In line with BCI’s new decision, the Gujarat Bar Council has issued a circular. 

Commenting on this, Anil C Kella, member of the Bar Council’s Verification Committee and Chairman of its Finance Committee, stated that lawyers enrolled after July 2010 and before February 28, 2022 — including around 18,000 lawyers who had already submitted declaration forms earlier — will also have to fill out the practice verification form afresh.

According to the guidelines in the circular, copies of all mark sheets of Class 10, Class 12, graduation, and LLB must be self-attested and submitted. The enrolment number must be clearly written on every copy of the mark sheet.