Kerala High Court’s Landmark Order on Advocates Without AIBE Clearance
In a significant legal development, the Kerala High Court has mandated the Bar Council of Kerala to disclose the identities of 1,157 advocates who have been practicing law without passing the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) and consequently lack a valid Certificate of Practice (CoP). This directive stems from a case titled Amarnath Joshi Surendiran v. The Secretary, Bar Council of Kerala & Ors., and was issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar VM.
The court instructed that the comprehensive list of these advocates, who were enrolled between 2010 and 2021 but yet to clear the AIBE, be prominently displayed on the official websites of both the Bar Council of Kerala and the Kerala High Court. The order further specifies, “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.”
Implications for Court Proceedings
In its ruling, the court decreed that no new legal matters should be registered in which these advocates have filed a vakalatnama. Moreover, if any case already features such an advocate, the court’s registry must note this within the case file for the Bench’s awareness. “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 judgment articulated.
The court also tasked the Registrar (District Judiciary) with distributing the list to every District Court in Kerala. Advocates who subsequently obtain a valid CoP may have their names removed from this list upon providing authenticated proof of their certification, as clarified by the court.
Background of the Public Interest Litigation
This court action was triggered by a public interest litigation (PIL) from a litigant who discovered during a matrimonial case that the opposing counsel had not passed the AIBE and lacked a CoP. After confirming this through an RTI query, the petitioner filed another RTI to ascertain the AIBE status of all advocates registered with the Kerala Bar Council.
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In May, the Bar Council of Kerala disclosed a list of advocates enrolled from July 2010 to December 2021 who had neither cleared the AIBE nor obtained a CoP. Despite this revelation, the petitioner argued that the Bar Council of Kerala had failed to take necessary actions against these unqualified practitioners.
The PIL emphasized that the petitioner approached the 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.” The petitioner called for immediate corrective measures, including suspension of enrollment, initiation of disciplinary proceedings, and notification to courts and litigants regarding the advocates’ qualification status.
This ruling underscores the importance of regulatory compliance within the legal profession, ensuring that only qualified individuals represent clients in court.
