It may sound very shocking to hear that the lawyer that you consulted last time was a fake one. The Pune Bar Association (PBA) recently discovered that about 35 lawyers were practicing law without having any license. These lawyers were found practicing law without a ‘sanad’ or a license to practice.

The drive launched by the PBA was initiated after the arrest of Vishwanath Kawchale by the Shivajinagar police. He was accused of cheating his client Ravindra Latnekar on April 27. Amongst those who were arrested include: Anil Murllidhar Rathod, Managala Rathod, Anil Murlidhar Kawale, Mahendra Kachawle, and Uddhav Vinayak Khaetrapale.

The vigilance team recently visited the premises of the revenue court and asked all the lawyers to produce their license numbers and identity cards. Murlidhar Rathod produced only a copy of his sanad and did not show his ID card. A verification from the Mumbai High Court and Pune district court of the sanad showed that the sanad belonged to someone else.

Another impersonator, Sivsharan was arrested when investigations revealed that he was practicing without a license. What is more shocking is that he had been practicing without a license for the last ten years! Amol Kajale Patil, the secretary of PBA said that, “The police have charged them for committing an offence of criminal breach of trust and cheating under sections 416, 467, 468, 471 of the IPC.” The police have seized fake stamps, black coat and documents from the accused.

PBA president, Dhananjay Taur said on Monday that amongst those who were arrested, two of them were working at the district sessions court, two at the district collectorate, and one at the debt recovery tribunal. He said that the credentials of those who were arrested were under scanner and action will be taken only after verification.

Taur said, “The association is planning to issue identity cards to practicing lawyers in the district after verifying their ‘sanad’ and other details. The PBA will prepare a new list of lawyers practicing before the district and sessions court, family court, labour and industrial tribunals, co-operative court, charity commissioner, district collectorate, marriage registrar and magistrate courts at the taluka level. The move aims to deter impersonators from cheating litigants.”

He wants the litigants to be more careful when they go to a lawyer next time. They should check the license number; write it down on a ‘vakalatnama’ or an authorization for representation. If the litigants suspect a lawyer, they can verify if the lawyer has a license. He admitted that verifying of credentials of lawyers coming from states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, because it takes a lot of time to check the license number of these layers from bar councils of their respective states.

Some lawyers have suggestions to cope up with the problem. A lawyer practicing at the district and sessions court, suggests that the bar council can start an online system to tackle the problem. This system can contain the details of the lawyers including their license numbers, names along with their photographs. There should be one system for all the courts across the state this will definitely discourage people from impersonating as lawyers.