Bar Council told to amend rules to enroll qualified lawyers alone

Justice S Vaidyanathan, on taking strong exception to the ‘mess’ caused by the lawyers appearing in a matrimonial dispute by suppressing facts and duplicating lawyers representing them and filing ‘vakalats,’ gave the directive on Tuesday that instead of enrolling the advocates and then asking them to take the exams, the enrolment shall take place only after the law students successfully get through the All India Bar Examination. 

The judge also held that all courts/ tribunals in the state shall have the power to demand the identity card/ enrolment certificate/address proof of an advocate, if it has doubt and even direct him to produce photostat copies of the same and the courts can refer it to the respective Bar Council for verification and if required, for necessary action. 

On recording the submission made by the advocate-general Vijay Narayan that to avoid fraud and filing of fake documents, this court can frame certain guidelines, the procedure for filing Vakalat charted out by Justice Vaidyanathan, which applies to all the courts/tribunals in Tamil Nadu, would come into effect from January 2, 2018. 

Coming back to the case, the judge disposed of the criminal original petition from the wife.

Madras High Court has dismissed a plea seeking to hand over the inquiry into the outbreak of fire at the Additional Sandal Depot at Tirupattur two decades ago to the CBI. Rejecting the PIL moved by Krishnan, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar said, “The writ petition and the affidavit in support thereof do not disclose any cogent reasons why the investigation should be reopened at this stage and handed over to the CBI.” 

The Madras High Court has slammed the Dr MGR Medical University for not complying with its earlier orders directing it to permit SVS Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College and Research Institute in Kallakurichi to participate in the counselling for 201718. Contending that the University had not complied with this order, SVS Educational and Social Service Trust, represented by its chairperson and managing director Dr Vasuki, filed the present contempt petition.