Kerala HC orders State Bar Council to publish names of 1,157 advocates practising without passing AIBE

The Kerala High Court has directed the Bar Council of Kerala to publish the names of 1,157 advocates who were enrolled with it between 2010 and 2021, but have not yet cleared the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and were found practicing without a valid Certificate of Practice (CoP) [Amarnath Joshi Surendiran v. The Secretary, Bar Council of Kerala & Ors.].

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar VM ordered that the entire list of 1157 advocates be published on the websites of the Bar Council of Kerala and the Kerala High Court.

"The ad-hoc committee [of the Bar Council of Kerala] shall publish the list of all defaulting advocates on the Bar Council of Kerala website and ensure follow up action in terms of the Rules," the Court said in its order.

It also ordered that no matter in which any of these lawyers have filed vakalatnama be registered by the Registry of the concerned court.

"The department is directed to not register any matter in which these 1,157 advocates have filed their vakalatnama. In the event it is found that any of these 1,157 have already filed vakalatnama, there should be proper endorsement in the file by the Registry of the concerned court for the benefit of the Bench," the Court said.

The Court also directed the Registrar (District Judiciary) to forward the list of names to every District Court in the State.

The Court clarified that if any of the named lawyers obtains a valid Certificate of Practice (CoP), their name can be deleted from the list.

"However, if it is found that any of these advocates have in the meantime obtained a certificate of practice, their name shall be deleted from the list provided they file an authenticated copy of their certificate," the Court added.

The order was passed on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition which alleged that the Bar Council of Kerala was not properly implementing the rules and provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961 regarding the qualifications required for legal practice in India.

The PIL was filed by a man who, when appearing before a family court in a matrimonial dispute, discovered that the advocate engaged by the opposite party had failed the AIBE and possessed no valid CoP.

He filed a formal complaint and filed an RTI query about that specific lawyer with the Bar Council of Kerala and received confirmation regarding the lawyer's lack of qualification.

He later filed another RTI applications seeking details of the AIBE status of all advocates enrolled with the Bar Council of Kerala.

In May this year, the Bar Council of Kerala, submitted a response disclosing a formal list of all advocates who were enrolled between July 2010 and December 2021 but had not yet cleared AIBE or procured a CoP.

The petitioner then approached the High Court with a PIL contending that despite this disclosure - that over a thousand advocates are enrolled and actively appearing before courts without statutory qualification - the Bar Council of Kerala had not taken any action.

"The Petitioner approaches this Hon’ble Court as a public-spirited litigant, seeking systemic enforcement of Sections 17, 24 and 35 of the Advocates Act, 1961 for the benefit of an indeterminate class of litigants across Kerala who are unknowingly represented by, or opposed to, unqualified persons masquerading as advocates," his PIL stated.

He sought orders from the Court to the Bar Council of Kerala to immediately take all necessary action and including suspension of enrolment, initiation of disciplinary proceedings, or notification of concerned courts and litigants regarding the qualification status of these 1,157 advocates.

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