Chennai: The Madras high court has made it clear that if any litigant does not want to continue with the advocate, who filed a memo of appearance/vakalat, the case bundle shall be immediately handed over to the client without insisting payment for the return of the bundle. While suspending the operation of his own order dated November 21, 2017, till January 22, Justice S. Vaidyanathan said that it is needless to mention that the client is entitled to give a complaint to the Bar Council against the advocate. If any fee is due from the client, the counsel is entitled to claim the same by approaching the appropriate court.
To prevent the practice of fake lawyers, the judge made several recommendations in the order November 21. The judge directed that Bar members come up with suggestions, without prolonging the matter further, to solve the issue. Meanwhile, advocates have agreed to abide by the conditions till the issue is resolved. However, protection given to the litigants in the earlier orders passed by this court is not suspended, the judge said.
The judge in the order dated November 21, had suggested several recommendations, including vakalat/memo of appearance to be filed along with clear photo identity cards of the advocates- on-record. All the petitions filed before the criminal court shall be duly signed by the advocate-on-record, on all pages together with enrolment number.
The courts below are entitled to crosscheck the proof produced if they suspect the same. The judge directed the Registrar-General, Madras high court to issue a fresh circular based on this order, to all the advocate associations in the state, to enable them to appear before this court, in this case, to put forth their suggestions on January 22. Advocate P.V.S. Giridhar, appearing for Madras High Court Advocate’s Association, requested the court to recall the November 21 order.
