The case against Delhi law minister Jitender Tomar has been brewing since before his election as an MLA, as a writ petition was filed before the Delhi High court on February 4 this year, alleging that Tomar had given “false information” in his affidavit at the time of filing his nomination. The high court had issued notices to Tomar, the Bar council of India (BCI) and the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) on the plea filed by advocate Santosh Kumar Sharma. In his plea, Sharma claimed that Tomar had submitted a “fake and bogus” undergraduate degree in science from Avadh University to get enrolled in the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Studies College. He was enrolled as a lawyer by the BCD on the basis of a law degree from this college. [related-post] The high court had issued notices to Tomar, the Bar council of India (BCI) and the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) on the plea filed by advocate Santosh Kumar Sharma. In his plea, Sharma claimed that Tomar had submitted a “fake and bogus” undergraduate degree in science from Avadh University to get enrolled in the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Studies College. He was enrolled as a lawyer by the BCD on the basis of a law degree from this college. On 13 March, after Tomar had been appointed Law Minister, the complainant advocate filed an application before the court to withdraw the complaint. The High court bench, however, refused to allow withdrawal of the complaint and directed the BCD, BCI and the Election Commission to conduct inquiries. On the same date, The Bar council of Delhi issued notice to Tomar, on grounds that “inquiries” at the RML Avadh University had indicated that the marksheets and roll numbers given by Tomar were “fabricated.” Meanwhile, the court also issued notices to the Avadh university where Tomar had claimed to have completed his Undergraduate BSC degree as well as the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College, Munger in Bihar, where he purportedly studied LLB. A separate complaint was also filed before the BCD by BJP legal cell member advocate Ripu Daman Singh Bharadwaj, asking the BCD to cancel Tomar's enrollment as a lawyer since his LLB degree was "fake." Tomar’s brother Narender Singh, who is also an advocate, appeared before the Bar council of Delhi on March 21, and sought time to file a reply. Despite time being given, Tomar sought more time to file “certified copies” of the degrees and certificates. On May 9, the BCD sent a written complaint to the Delhi police asking them to verify the documents submitted by Tomar at the time of his enrollment, and the replies sent by the Faizabad university. The panel also found Tomar “prima facie guilty” of filing forged and “fake” documents. The letter stated that Tomar, “by means of false representation and on the basis of forged marksheets and degree claimed to be a graduate in BSc and on the basis of forged provisional LLB certificate claimed to be a law graduate”. The letter asked the police to conduct a detailed preliminary investigation with respect to the documents submitted by Tomar to the Bar Council at the time of his enrollment as a lawyer in 2011. The decision of the BCD caused rifts in the 25 member panel of the DBC, with some lawyers opposing the move as they sided with the law minister against the decision to approach the Police. The AAP MLA has not filed any formal written replies before the BCD or the Delhi High court so far, though his advocates have appeared and sought time to “file certified copies.’ According to BCD sources, Tomar had been asked to file the original certificates in his possession as it would take too much time to get certified copies from the Universities concerned. Interestingly, the BSILS College filed an affidavit before the Delhi High court claiming that Tomar had been a bonafide LLB student though he had completed his LLB in four years and not three years. In contrast, the Tilka Manjhi University, which is the affiliating university for the Law college, has said that the roll numbers given by Tomar do not match their records. The Bar council had on May 27, directed Tomar to file the original certificates and degrees before the BCD for verification. According to BCD sources, Tomar has not yet shown the original documents to the BCD. According to sources, the May 9 written complaint by the BCD sent to the DCP South district could have been registered as an FIR, though the BCD has not been given any information by the police on the status of the investigation so far. The hearing before the BCD is scheduled for July 7, while the High court had set the date to examine the matter on July 16.
