Supply of the details of every practicing Advocate of the country as per the format required by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India.

The Bar Council of India has on various occasions written to all the Bar Associations of the Country (through the State Bar Council/s) to provide the details of every practicing Advocate of the country as per the format required by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India.

The General Council of the Bar Council of India at its meeting held on 22.07.2020 has considered this issue once again and passed a resolution to the effect wherein it has observed, that Bar Council of India has issued several letters to the Secretaries of all the State Bar Councils asking and requesting them to furnish the details as required by E-Committee of the Supreme Court of India. It has further noted that it appears that the Secretary, Bar Council of India has formed a whatsapp group in which all the Secretaries/representatives of all State Bar Councils have been included and that the said whatsapp group appears to be active and it appears that regular communications have been/are being made thererin. The Council has however, also observed that the net result of feedback from many concerned State Bar Councils appear to be quite unsatisfactory.

The office of Apex court for this small (but very important matter) has issued several reminders to the office of Bar Council of India, which has in turn has repeatedly requested the State Bar Councils to furnish the relevant, sought and required details of the Advocates practicing in the different bar associations of the country.

The result is that because of the inaction of many State Bar Councils particularly the State Bar Councils of West Bengal, Manipur, Meghalaya, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir (who have not even properly responded to any communication issued/made by the office of Bar Council of India including whatsapp messages, telephonic calls), the Bar Council of India is unable to furnish the information to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Inso far as other State Bar Councils are concerned, most of the forms received are incomplete and do not furnish all the required information particularly the email IDs, whatsapp nos and other details. The State Bar Councils had been repeatedly reminded that all such information should be procured and provided to BCI to furnish the same to the Supreme Court of India, but the results as stated above has been far from satisfactory. Thus obviously because of the said lacuna, the entire exercise appears to be futile.

Under the aforesaid circumstances, having left with no other alternative, the Bar Council of India, therefore, has resolved to write to the Presidents/Secretaries of all the District and Taluka Bar Associations of the country to supply the details as per given format directly to the office of BCI on the email bci.scinfo@gmail.com which has been created by the office specifically for this particular purpose.

The Bar Associations shall be required to collect by whatsapp, and email preferably, all such data of all practising Advocates who are members of their respective Bar Associations and thereafter once the data is collected, all such data, shall be required to be cross checked to ensure the same is per the required format(provided below). Individual Advocates are requested not to send individual emails to BCI. They have to submit their details to the respective Bar Associations of which they are members and for convenience and ease, the entire list shall be required to be sent by/through the Bar Associations to BCI in word/excel format at bci.scinfo@gmail.com as per the following format.

The Bar Associations may circulate the following format to all their members by email and whatsapp and also paste the same on their notice boards for all to see and be aware of the requirement.

This format is to be e filled up by every practicing Advocate of the country and submitted to the Bar Association/s of which they are members preferably, by email/whatsapp.

1. S. No.
2. Enrolment Number of Advocate in State Bar Council with the year of enrolment
3. Certificate of Practise details, issued after clearance of AIBE, whereever applicable
4. Name of Advocate (to be printed in short on cause list)
5. Full name of Advocate
6. Name of Advocate in Local Language
7. Date of Birth of Advocate
8. Gender of Advocate M-Male, F-Female, T-Transgender
9. Address of Advocate
10. Address of Advocate in Local Language
11. Email of Advocate
12. Mobile number of Advocate
13. Whatsapp (if any)
14. Phone number of Advocate
15. Fax Number
16. Office Address of Advocate where he/she practices
17. Pin Code
18. District
19. Taluka
20. Office Address of Advocate in local language
21. Type of Advocate, (Individual-1, Firm-2, Company-3)
22. If Firm or Company, Registration No. in BCI

All the Bar Associations of the country are requested and directed to furnish the aforementioned details of all the Advocates registered with them within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this letter from the office of BCI. This is to be treated as most urgent.

Infact this scheme/proposal is for the benefit of all the Advocates. The Supreme Court has devised a method of communication with the Bar in 22 different regional languages of the country; the E-Committee has also been training the Lawyers for efilings, virtual hearings etc. Other necessary information/reports shall also be made available to Advocates. All those Advocates who attended the webinar organised by E-Committee of Supreme Court on 25th July, 2020 at 3 P.M., must have realised the benefits of this format. Hon’ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the Chairperson of E-Committee explained the benefits in detail.

Therefore, the above mentioned information is required for the benefit of each and every lawyer of the country.

The Bar Council of India has resolved to make the submission of the duly filled up format to be mandatory. If any Advocate fails to furnish the same to his respective Bar Association and the Bar Association to BCI, such Advocate shall be treated as a Non-Practicing Advocate by the Council.

Further, all the Bar Associations registered and recognized by the State Bar Councils are also requested and directed to create official whatsapp group(s) consisting of the members practicing and registered with them only.

Such official groups shall not contain/include the name of any Advocate who is practicing somewhere else and/or who is not a member of that particular Bar Association.

In all the Whatsapp groups of the Taluka and District Bar Associations, as per directions to be issued, one official of BCI nominated by the Hon’ble Chairman, BCI shall be the group admin in order to avoid any sort of mischief and per further directions to be issued, the Hon’ble Chairman of State Bar Council, Hon’ble Representative, BCI (from State Bar Council) and the respective Secretaries of all the State Bar Councils shall also be the part of the concerned whatsapp group(s) of the respective Bar Associations of the States.

Upon creation of such whatsapp groups, the details of the name of the Group, created by particular District/Taluka Bar Association/s along with details of names and number of members of the group are to be emailed to BCI at bci.scinfo@gmail.com.

Further directions, if any, regarding creation of further a common whatsapp groups all Bar Associations of one one District, of all Bar Associations of one Taluka, and/or further of one common group of all District Bar Associations, of one State, of one common group of all Taluka Associations of one State or of one common District and Taluka Bar Association of one State, may further be issued.

The aforementioned measures have to be taken for a proper and effective communication between the Bar Council of India, the State Bar Councils and all the members of the legal fraternity on any or every important issue (like the present one). The office will also try to find out whether, apart from creating whatsapp group/s, any other method,means of communication, like Telegram app is feasible and viable. If that be so, the Bar Council of India will take steps and issue necessary directions to the respective State Bar Councils and the Bar Associations to create/join such app, method, means of communication.

This is for your information and compliance.

Thanking you
Yours sincerely

(Srimanto Sen)
Secretary

Copy to :

All the Secretaries of State Bar Councils
for roper compliance of the directions.

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