Hon’ble Supreme Court while dealing with a leave granted in S.L.P. here on 01-03-2019 in the case of “Anand Kumar Sharma Vs. Bar Council of India through Secretary & Another.” stated that in the matters of appellant’s enrollment as an advocate in the State of Himachal Pradesh obtained by suppression of facts and relevant material was canceled. A subsequent acquittal cannot come to the rescue of the appellant. Learned L. NAGESWARA RAO, J. decided the case on 01-03-2019.
In this case the appellant was enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh in July, 1988. He applied for transfer of his enrolment to the State of Rajasthan. The Bar Council of India permitted the transfer on 27th May, 1989. The Bar Council of India cancelled the enrollment of the appellant on receiving a complaint by the Bar Council of Rajasthan that the Appellant’s enrollment in the State of Himachal Pradesh was obtained by suppression of facts and relevant material. The enrollment was cancelled on 6th November, 1995 by the Bar Council of India. The said order was affirmed by this Court as the Special Leave Petition filed by the Appellant was dismissed on 5th August, 1996. The appellant approached the High Court of Rajasthan seeking a direction to the Bar Council of Rajasthan to decide his application for exemption from training of one year and enrollment based on earlier experience .The petition was dismissed by a learned single judge .Further in appeal, a Division Bench directed the Bar Council of Rajasthan to consider the application filed by the Appellant. The Bar Council of Rajasthan dismissed the application of the Appellant for enrolment on 16th January, 2000 and referred the matter for confirmation of the Bar Council of India. The Bar Council of India confirmed the order passed by the Bar Council of Rajasthan on 16th January, 2000. The appellant another application for enrollment as an advocate was rejected on 29th june, 2003 and confirmed by the Bar Council of India by its resolution dated 3rd January, 2004. C.A. 294 of 2007 is filed by the Appellant challenging the order dated 29.06.2003 of the Bar Council of Rajasthan and the consequential orders dated 02.01.2004 of the Bar Council of India. The legality of the orders dated 14th July, 2012 of the Bar Council of Rajasthan affirmed by the Bar Council of India on 15th September, 2012 is subject matter of Special Leave Petitions (Civil)… CC Nos. 10531-10532 of 2013. In the Special Leave Petitions (Civil)..CC Nos. 10531-10532 of 2013, the Appellant stated that a FIR registered against him at Police Station Dhambola, on 15th 4 April, 1988. He was arrested and sent to judicial custody. He has also shown the judgement of the Sessions Judge, Dungarpur, Rajasthan by which his appeal against the conviction under Section 419 IPC was allowed.
The court held that the suppression of facts of government service as a medical doctor and criminal case during the time of enrollment in the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh is sufficient ground to cancel the enrollment of the appellant. Subsequent acquittal cannot come to the rescue of the appellant. The repeated attempts made by the Appellant later amount to an abuse of process. The Appellant would be better advised not to indulge in pursuing the matter pertaining to his enrollment as Advocate. The appeal was dismissed accordingly.
