Courts not to entertain appearance of Advocates not enrolled, where preparation of Advocates' Rolls complete: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday issued directions to ensure that Advocates are allowed appearance in Court only upon furnishing their enrolment number. The Court has also passed directions for the registration of Advocates' Clerks with the concerned Advocates..The Bench of Justices Sudhir Agarwal and Suneet Kumar record in the order,."We, therefore, direct all the Courts not to entertain any appearance of Advocates through concerned etc. without number of “Advocate Roll”, wherever Advocates Roll have been completed, on and after 20.03.2020 and a notice to this effect shall be communicated to Bar Associations of concerned District Judgeships forthwith.”Allahabad High Court.Where Advocates Rolls have not been completed, the Court ordered that the same should be completed within the time given by the Court. .Further, that in those districts as well, the appearance of Advocates through Vakalatnama etc. is not be accepted or entertained by any Court, until Advocate Rolls' number is mentioned on and after April 1, 2020. The Court added, that,."If any Advocate outside the District is appearing, his appearance shall be subject to the condition that a local Advocate having number of Advocate's Roll is appearing and his Advocate Roll shall be mentioned in the appearance slip or Vakalatnama, as the case may be."Allahabad High Court.The Court has also ordered that steps have to be taken to get all the Clerks registered with the concerned Advocates, and that a Clerks List is to be completed accordingly. .Clerks have been given a moths' time to get themselves registered with concerned Advocates, and thereafter they are to get their names included in the Roll of Clerks as well. The Court has added, ."... unregistered Clerks and those who are not on the Roll of Clerks are not allowed to enter in the Court campus on and after 15.04.2020."Allahabad High Court.The Bench further took critical note of the of the fact that Court staff were not always dressed appropriately inside the Court premises. As noted in the order, "We have also noticed that in this Court itself, many Registry Staff/personnel are not wearing uniform despite repeated orders passed in this regard.".The Court proceeded to direct the Registrar General of the Court to submit and explanation on the issue and to ensure on and after March 16, no member of Staff of Registry is allowed to remain present in Court campus unless he/she wears uniform and also displays identity card..These directions apart, the High Court also passed directions on reports concerning the alleged misconduct of certain districts. .Among the issues reported, the Bijnor District Judge had submitted a report before the Court, alleging that some Advocates had demolished the wall/Gate of the court premises on February 13. The report mentioned a few names which came to light after viewing CCTV footage..The High Court has issued notice to the three advocates identified by the judge in his report, i.e. Advocates Ramendra Singh, Shiv Kumar Gahlaut and Peetambar Singh, directing them to explain why they should not be punished for contempt of Court. .The Advocates are expected to submit their reply and appear in person before the Court on March 20. The Chief Judicial Magistrate has been asked to serve the notice upon the Advocates concerned, and to submit the service report within ten days..The Bench has also summoned the President and Secretary of Bar Association, Bijnor to assist the Court in the identification of other delinquent Advocates who could not be identified by District Judge in CCTV Footage, so that appropriate action may be taken against them..The matter has been listed next for hearing on March 20. .When the matter had come up in January this year, the High Court had issued a series of directions to ensure that works to reinforce security measures at subordinate courts were being completed without undue delay. Court had also directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to directly intervene on the issue so that bureaucratic delays do not stall the process of securing the courts..[Read the Order here]