The Bar Council of India has initiated an "exhaustive" process of identifying "fake and non-practising" lawyers which will be completed over the next seven months.
The BCI, a statutory body regulating legal practice and education in the country, has introduced an "exhaustive" mechanism to ascertain the identity and numbers of such lawyers, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda informed the Lok Sabha today.
In a written reply, Gowda said the Council had informed that "the number of fake lawyers cannot be exactly ascertained by now."
The Minister said the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015, have been framed which will help prevent the "occurrence of the use of such fake degrees or to stop the non-practicing persons enrolled with the State Bar councils from getting benefits."
Gowda said the entire verification process will be completed and fake lawyers identified within 6-7 months.
The development came days after BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra was reported to have said in Chennai that 30 per cent of lawyers in India were fake.
Speaking at Lawyers Meet-2015, organised by BCI in Chennai late last month, Mishra said the Council, which is statutorily empowered to discipline errant lawyers and take action against them, was in the process of weeding them out. He had blamed such lawyers for strikes and boycotts being witnessed in various courts over frivolous issues.
