All genuine lawyers are required to have their qualifications verified: The Supreme Court establishes an expert committee to supervise the verification.

The Supreme Court established a High Powered Committee to monitor the process of verifying the degree certificates of advocates on Monday, moving the legal profession in an important direction.

A former judge of the Supreme Court and two former justices of the High Court will make up the committee.

The group also includes senior attorneys Maninder Singh and Rakesh Dwivedi. Three members of the committee may be proposed by the Bar Council of India.

As soon as the final order is uploaded, the members’ names will be made clear.

This order was issued by a bench made up of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala after they took note of the difficulties encountered during the verification of attorneys. The Committee has been requested to get to work as soon as possible and submit a progress report by August 31.

The bench argued that people who claim to be attorneys but do not possess legitimate educational credentials or degree certificates cannot have access to the legal system.

The bench ordered that all universities and test boards shall verify the validity of degrees without charging any fees after taking note of the difficulties the verification procedure encountered as a result of the fees requested by the institutions to verify the degree certificates.

The Bar Council of India published the BCI Certificate and Location of Practice (Verification) Regulations 2015 in 2015 to identify real solicitors who are currently involved in court cases and tribunal proceedings. The Regulations were contested in several High Courts, and the Supreme Court ultimately took over the disputes.

The BCI’s direction to the State Bar Councils in November 2022, which the petitioner claimed had the effect of preventing the verification process being carried out by the State Bar Councils to scrutinise, was challenged in an application filed by an advocate practising in the Supreme Court, prompting the Court to issue the current order.

HARDIK SHARMA, B.COM LL.B

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