9,000 lawyers face suspension for not paying fee to bar

BCTP, special committee chairman and advocate general Vijay Narayan told reporters on Thursday that the advocates, who had failed to pay were those who had registered prior to 1993.

He said notices have been issued to all those who were yet to pay their subscription and that they could pay up the mandatory subscription and arrears with a token fine to avoid suspension.

Pointing out that all efforts have been taken to cleanse the electoral rolls with dedicated committees comprising senior counsels being formed exclusively for this purpose, the chairman said though the Supreme Court had directed the bar councils to publish the electoral list by November 30 and hold the elections by December 31, a plea has been made by the BCI to modify the order.

However, noting that the endeavour is to hold the elections as stipulated by the apex court following the fresh modification plea, Vijay Narayan pointed out that out of the 86,000 lawyers enrolled at BCTP as many as 56,000 have submitted their certificates for verification, while the remaining 30,000 have not bothered to subject themselves for scrutiny.

He said as of now as many as 9,745 certificates are pending with the various universities in the state for verification. He said the online verification system developed by the IIT (Madras) has been linked with Dr Ambedkar Law University and in due course would be linked to other universities. 

The advocate general also pointed out that as many as 152 lawyers, who have failed to clear the All India Bar Council Examination have been suspended and out of the 400 criminal cases pending against advocates as many as 56 cases have been referred to the newly created disciplinary committees.