‘Persons with criminal history shouldn’t be given lawyers’ licence’: HC tells Uttar Pradesh Bar Council

A division bench of Justices Vinod Diwakar and SD Singh stated in its order that, “Whatever be the true facts, at present the complaint appears to be pending with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh since 25.9.2022. Much time has passed, appropriate action should have been taken thereon, by now. Accordingly, the instant petition is disposed of with a direction upon respondent no.3 to undertake and complete the disciplinary proceedings brought by the petitioner as expeditiously as possible, preferably, within a period of three months, in accordance with law.”

The court stated that it is alarming to note that a person with a criminal history of 14 cases and convicted in four cases obtained the licence to practice law. “Such a licence, if allowed to arise and/or continue, may cause harm to society in general and the legal fraternity in particular. The Advocates Act prohibits admission of such a person to practice,” it said.

The court observed that respondent no.2 should have developed a procedure to ensure that all fresh applications received for grant of licence are subjected to police verification procedure in a time bound manner.

“All applicants who may be facing criminal charges and/or may have been convicted are bound to inform the Bar Council at the stage of making their applications as to pendency of such cases and/or existence of any order of conviction. If such material particulars are not disclosed by an applicant, his application may be rejected at the threshold. Seen in that light, it is surprising that the Bar Council has yet not evolved a procedure to enforce its own law,” the bench observed.

The court directed respondents 1 and 2 to issue necessary directions and seek a police report from the police stations concerned regarding all pending and fresh applications for issuing licence similar to the procedures “being done/followed for issuance of passports”.

“Such due diligence procedure would ensure that a person who may carry a criminal history and who may conceal that information, be prevented from misleading the Bar Council in obtaining a licence. A provisional licence issued pending an adverse police report may be cancelled upon such report being submitted,” it held.