Bar Council of India suspends 28 Advocates of UP indulged in malpractices of filing fake claim-cases

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday suspended 28 Advocates of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly indulging in mal-practices of filing fake claim cases.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday suspended 28 Advocates of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly indulging in mal-practices of filing fake claim cases. The BCI has also directed the State Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh to initiate disciplinary proceedings against these Advocates and conclude the inquiry within a period of three months and submit the report of the same to the Bar Council of India.

The Council, after thorough discussion and deliberation, has resolved to put 28 Advocates under suspension whose names are listed in FIRs/Charge-Sheets, till the proceedings against them are completed. According to the BCI release, the Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice MR Shah and Justice Sanjiv Khanna in an order dated November 16, 2021, had taken serious note of the issue relating to Advocates involved in filing fake claim petitions under the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and Workmen Compensation Act.

The Court observed that consequent to the direction passed by the High Court of Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, to the Special Investigating Team (SIT), Uttar Pradesh for investigation of the cases of suspicious claims, a total of 233 suspicious claims of various insurance companies have been dismissed in default or not pressed due to which various claim petitions claiming an amount of Rs 300,76,40,000 have been rejected by the Tribunals, stated BCI statement. The SIT was constituted by the High Court to look into the filing of the fake claim petitions and with the specific purpose of investigating the issue. Still, the investigation in most of the cases/FIRs is reported to be pending.

The Court further observed that "out of total 92 criminal cases in various districts registered till date, of which 28 advocates have been named as accused persons in 55 cases, the investigation has been concluded/completed in 32 cases and the charge sheet has been filed. In rest of the cases, the investigation is stated to be pending." The Court on its order on October 5, 2021, requested the Chairman, Bar Council of India, Manan Kumar Mishra, Senior Advocate to look into the matter.

On November 16, 2021, the BCI chairman had to state before Supreme Court that the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh was not cooperating in sending the names of the Advocates who are indulged in such illegal activities of filing such fake claim petitions. However, Mishra assured the Court that if the Bar Council of India receives the names of the Advocates involved in filing fake claim petitions, the necessary disciplinary action shall be taken by the Bar Council of India against them immediately. Pursuant to such submission, the Court directed the SIT to send to BCI the list of Advocates involved in filing the fake claims against whom the FIRs/Charge sheets are filed within a period of three days from the date of the order, whereupon such lists were sent by SIT to BCI. (ANI)

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