Domicile Not A Condition For Enrolment With State Bar Council, Only Bar Council Of Delhi Insisting For It: BCI To Delhi High Court

The Bar Council of India has told the Delhi High Court that domicile of a law graduate is not a condition for enrolment with a State Bar Council as per law and that no other State Bar Council except Bar Council of Delhi has it as a requirement. 

The BCI made the submission in its response to a petition moved by a lawyer challenging the notification of BCD making the filing of Aadhar Card and Voter ID bearing address of Delhi or NCR region mandatory for future enrolments.

The court has been informed that the only requirement or condition under the Advocates Act, 1961 is that an application for admission as an advocate shall be made to the State bar Council where the applicant proposes to practice.

“…the Bar Council of India vide email dated 10 May 2023 sent communication to all the State Bar Councils asking for response, asking amongst other, to the domicile as requirement for enrollment. That in response 14 State Bar Councils so far have sent the reply and on going through the same it transpired that as on date except Bar Council of Delhi none of the other 13 State Bar Councils have domicile of the Law Graduate/Applicant as criteria/requirement for enrollment as Advocate under The Advocates Act, 1961,” the reply states.

BCI has further said that there is an obligation on every lawyer whose name is in the State Roll to notify any change in place of the permanent residence to the respective State Bar Council.

It has also said that if the advocate does not apply for transfer of the name to the roll of the State Bar Council within whose jurisdiction he is ordinarily practicing within six months, then the lawyer shall be deemed to be guilty of “Professional misconduct.”

“That this is the position as on date.That the only issue which may be considered here, that ordinarily in order to be able to practise in any particular state or region or district or locality, an Advocate is generally expected to stay in the same State and region,otherwise, it will be impracticable for him/her to practise law in a particualar state and only in that respect a local address or as in the case of Delhi which is neighboured by Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Sonepat,Gurgaon etc, residence proofofsuch area would be ideally required to be practically be able to actually practise law in the State of Enrolment, in this case being Delhi,” the response adds.

The plea will be heard today by Justice Prathiba M Singh. Earlier this month, BCD had told court that it was reconsidering its decision and that the matter will be discussed in a meeting which was to be held on May 12.

In the notification issued by BCD, the lawyers’ body said that the law graduates who wish to apply for enrolment shall be required to attach the copy of their Aadhar card and voter ID Card of Delhi or NCR, along with the enrolment application.

“Henceforth no enrolment shall be done without the copy of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card bearing the address of Delhi/NCR,” the notice stated.

The petitioner, Advocate Rajani Kumar, is a law graduate from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University and a resident of Bihar. She is represented by Advocate Lalit Kumar.

It is her case that the mandatory requirement of giving the said documents discriminates against those law graduates who do not have an address in Delhi or NCR and also creates an arbitrary classification between law graduates based on their residential address.

Title: Rajani Kumari v. BCD and other connected matters