Almost Half of India’s Lawyers Are Fake, Says Bar Council

The number of practicing lawyers is about to come down to 55-60% after the verification process, the BCI chief said.

The number of fake lawyers came to light after the Bar Council verification drive. Image used for representational purpose. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Almost half of India's lawyers are fake, an ongoing verification drive by the Bar Council of India (BCI) has revealed.

BCI chief Manan Kumar Mishra told the Chief Justice of India, JS Khehar, that the number of genuine lawyers has been cut down to 55-60 percent of the total across courtrooms in India, as a result of the drive.

Times of India quoted Mishra as saying:

The number of practicing lawyers is about to come down to 55-60% after the completion of the verification process. This will certainly improve the quality of our legal profession.

This includes people with fake degrees as well as individuals without degrees.

Mishra elaborated that the council had almost 14 lakh voters as per its 2012 election statistics, which has been reduced to the council receiving just 6.5 lakh applications since the verification process started.

CJI Khehar, lauding the BCI said:

I am so happy that BCI has started the verification process. But it is not only about people with false degrees, but also those with no degrees. These people work without a licence. They go to court and practice without any authority. We need to start much before, right from the institutions.

According to the BCI, there are 1.3 million lawyers in India and all of them need to get their certificates verified or else their names would be struck out of the rolls, Hindustan Times reported.

The issue came to light after a complaint in 2015 led to the ouster of Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar.

(Source: Times of India, Hindustan Times)