The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that creating a digital database of lawyers in the country with a parallel link to verify their law degrees could be an “innovative” idea to weed out lawyers with fake degrees.
“In the age of technology, this seems like an innovative idea that can be implemented,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said after raising the suggestion in a petition filed by the Bar Association of India (BAI).
Issuing a notice to the Centre, Bar Council of India (BCI), University Grants Commission (UGC) and all state bar councils, the body, which also includes Justice V Mohana, said, “For any coordinated effort, all law universities must be persuaded, and they must be compelled to disclose all the law graduates who are loyal to the university.”
Advocate Prashant Kumar, who is the president of BAI, said that the petition sought a fixed-term National Digital Register of the Legal Profession in India (NDRLP) containing a unique national lawyer ID, real-time registration status, verified qualifications, disciplinary record and a QR-verifiable public profile – which any litigant can access on a mobile phone in seconds.
Kumar, with the help of advocate Vipin Nair, said the idea is to consolidate verifiable data about a lawyer on a common platform where the verified law degree can also be linked with the help of UGC. “We will come up with a mechanism and submit a policy paper by the next date, and we can even include the All India Council for Technical Education, as the Indian Institutes of Technology offer law degrees,” he said.
“The technical model is India’s own Aadhaar system – which is clearly achievable at the national level. Governance of the NDRLP will remain broadly with BCI, and the Ministry of Law and Justice will be the funding and policy partner,” BAI’s petition filed by advocate Mukesh Kumar Singh said.
Kumar referred to the recent shocking statements made by BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra that nearly 35-40% of lawyers practicing before courts may be fake. He said even the Supreme Court had raised serious concerns over the authenticity of law degrees held by registered lawyers and had recently directed that only genuine law degree holders be allowed to contest in the state Bar Council elections.
In April 2023, the issue of verification of genuine advocates came up in Ajay Shankar Srivastava v. BCI, where a high-level committee was constituted and directions were issued to that effect. But these trends did not solve the structural problem.
The council said: “We may have to form a new committee, and if this committee had been effective, this crisis would not have occurred.”
The petition also suggested formulating a code of conduct for social and digital media under Section 49 of the Advocates Act, 1961 within six months. “It is one thing for a member of the ordinary public to submit content (on social media) that is not in keeping with the reality of court proceedings. It is another thing entirely when an advocate does so, giving that content a false sense of authenticity and a professional point of view when the content is completely unprofessional in its frame and intent,” Kumar said.
“We will show you examples of bad comments made by some people which have nothing to do with the law,” the CJI commented. The court found that real lawyers have professional ethics. “Those who are not are the ones who are distorting the profession. They may not even be registered as advocates,” the bench said.
There are approximately 1.8 million registered lawyers in India, and Section 30 of the Advocates Act allows a lawyer to practice across the country. Bai said. “There is no single national registry that can be publicly and in real-time verified as to who is truly registered, holds verified qualifications, and is in good standing… The registration and roll-keeping system is fragmented across the 23 state bar councils, and operates without uniform standards.”
