Now, to-be lawyers will have to pay 2500 rupees for verification of certificates: BCI

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has recently sent out to state Bar Councils across the country a resolution that could bring in a significant change to the legal profession. As first reported by LiveLaw, in a letter dated January 28, the BCI has directed the enrolment committees of these Bar Councils to charge a sum of Rs. 2500 from candidates desirous of enrolling with the Bar. This sum is to be collected in lieu of verification of certificates of future practicing lawyers..The resolution, passed in a General Body meeting of the BCI on December 27 of last year, elucidates the procedure through which the credentials of a candidate are to be checked pre-enrolment..Among the documents required to be submitted along with the enrolment forms are:.(a) Certificate of concerned Board for Secondary/10th examination.(b) Certificate of concerned Board for Senior Secondary or intermediate examination.(c) Certificate of graduation if any/and the LL.B. degree or the provisional certificates of these degrees granted by the University as well as the mark-sheets of all the three or five year of LL.B. examinations..The State Bar Councils are required to send copies of these documents to the concerned board/university for verification, within five days of submission of the same. Enrolment can be completed only on receipt of a reply from the board/university. In case a reply does not come, the candidates may be granted provisional enrolment for a period of six months..The resolution also states that the Bar Councils may, on receipt of the result of the verification, “if required call the candidates for interview” before sending the enrolment certificate. State Bar Councils are then required to send the details of enrolled candidates to the BCI within ten days..The letter concludes by holding the Bar Councils responsible if something were to go wrong during the enrolment process..The verification of lawyers before enrolment is something envisaged under the Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules notified in 2015. These Rules were introduced as part of the BCI’s endeavour to weed out “fake lawyers” from the Bar..Quite recently, BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra reportedly said that close to half of the enrolled lawyers in the country were “fake”..The Supreme Court, in a challenge to these Rules, had extended the last date of verification of lawyers to January 31..How the legal fraternity will react to the BCI’s move is what remains to be seen. More than a few would agree that it is hard enough for fresh law graduates in litigation practice without having to pay a pre-enrolment fee..Read the letter: