TN Bar Council bans 742 advocates found practicing sans qualification

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has prohibited 742 advocates from practicing law after they were found to be violating Rule 5 of the Legal Education Rules, 2008, framed by the Bar Council of India..Rule 5 of the Legal Education Rules prescribes the minimum qualification required in order to be eligible to apply for admission to a law course. The explanation to the rule specifically states,.“The applicants who have obtained 10+2 or graduation/post graduation through open Universities system directly without having any basic qualification for prosecuting such studies are not eligible for admission in the law courses.”.The position that open university degree holders are not eligible to enter into a law course has also been reinforced by the rulings in Annamalai University v Secretary to Government, Information and Tourism Department and K Sakthi Rani v The Secretary..In a meeting held on November 9, a Special Committee of the Bar Council had passed a resolution to issue show cause notice for the removal of advocates found to have entered into practice in violation of this rule..The immediate catalyst for these developments are the orders passed by Justice N Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court in the last month, after he took up the issue of falling standards in the legal profession in public interest..The extract of the resolution by the Bar Council to initiate action against the said advocates has been published in the official site of the Bar Council..The notice dated November 11, 2017, which officially prohibits practice by the identified advocates states,.“The advocates against whom, the above said resolution is passed are prohibited from practice in any court of law or before any judicial or quasi judicial forum, pending disposal of the show cause notice issued.”.Read Notice below.