Disapproving the recent claim of the Bar Council of India (BCI) that nearly 45 per cent of the lawyers in the country are “fake”, the Bar Council of Odisha here on Friday asserted, “There are no fake lawyers in the State.
Addressing the media, Bar Council of Odisha Chairman Manas Ranjan Mohapatra condemned the statement of BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, saying that the State Bar Council “disputes’ and “opposes” such statement of Mishra.
Bar Council of India Member Devi Prasad Dhal of Odisha said the BCI Chairman made the statement without taking the State’s representatives into confidence. He would raise the issue of fake lawyers with the Chairman at the next BCI meeting, he said.
Ever since the work on the Place of Practice Verification Rules was introduced in 2015, at least 25,000 lawyers from a total of 45,000 enrolled across Odisha have already submitted their applications for verification with the council.
The remaining 20,000 have been asked to submit their applications by November 30 this year. “If any defaulted lawyer did not submit his/her application for verification by the due date, he or she shall be termed as “Non-Plasticising lawyer” and not “Fake lawyer,” Bar Council of Odisha Chairman Mohapatra said.