On August 10, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana’s disciplinary Committee restrained 140 “lawyers” from appearing in any matter at court with immediate effect. The action was taken by the Committee after it found that these lawyers were practising on a fake license. The list of 140 lawyers has been forwarded to the Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana, for registration of an FIR.
As per reports, a disciplinary committee was formed on August 5 following a complaint filed by Advocate David Gill from Ludhiana against one Parminder Singh. Gill had alleged that Singh was enrolled as an advocate, but he never passed any law degree. He further alleged that he became a member of the Bar Council based on a forged degree.
Based on the complaint, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana formed a disciplinary committee comprising CM Munjal, chairman, Harish Rai Dhanda, member, and Vikas Bishnoi, co-opted member. On checking the licenses of all the members of the District Bar Association and compared the voter lists provided by the Bar Association to the records of the Bar Council. In its report, the Committee mentioned that after checking the records from 2000 to 2021, they found that the enrollment numbers of 140 advocates in Ludhiana did not match with the records of the Bar Council.
The Committee further mentioned that when Gill, in his complaint, stated that when he sought records of Parminder Singh via RTI from the council, he was informed the enrollment number P-921 being used by Parminder was allotted to one Prince Roop Rai of Patiala in 2016. Thus, Singh must have declared himself an advocate using forged documents in 2018.
Gill further alleged a large-scale racket was ongoing in Ludhiana under which enrolment certificates of advocates were forged and sought an inquiry into the same. The Committee sought a reply from Parminder in which he took the names of advocates Sukhmani Singh and David Gill for helping in getting the enrollment number using forged documents.
Parminder Singh said both Sukhmani Singh and David Gill were his childhood friends. They took Parminder to advocate Deepak Prajapati, who practices in Ludhiana. Prajapati claimed he was providing LLB degrees to students through correspondence education and took Rs 1,50,000 fees from him in three instalments. Prajapati claimed he would get a degree for Parminder in a 5-year LLB course from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.
Parminder further added that Prajapati helped in to get a forged degree in law. Later, Prajapati and Gill took him to Bar Council, Chandigarh, and asked him to wait in the reception area. Within 30 minutes, according to Parminder, they returned with the enrollment numbers (P-921-2016) and another person accompanying him, identified as Sukhmani Singh (P-922 of 2016). They charged him another Rs 2,50,000 for the same. Later, Parminder came to know that he was cheated by the two.
The Committee also sent notices to Prajapati, who sought time to file a reply. However, when the date came, he did not appear, and no reply was filed.
Notices were also served on Deepak Prajapati, who came and sought time to file a reply to the allegations levelled against him. But later, on the adjourned date, he failed to appear, and no reply was filed. The disciplinary Committee has also sent the order to the District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana.
