Complaints against an advocate can be with regard to professional or other misconduct by the advocate.(( Section 35, Advocates Act, 1961)) Actions that qualify as ‘misconduct’ cannot be defined with an exhaustive list. What should be kept in mind is the nobility of the job of an advocate, and the high standard that is expected of advocates by society.(( Noratanmal Chouraria v. MR Murali & Another, Civil Appeal 5476 of 1999)) Instances that are not explicitly mentioned in the law have led to disciplinary actions in the past, such as when an advocate tried to assault a client with a knife.(( Hikmat Ali Khan v. Ishwar Prasad Arya, 1997 (3) SC 131))
Forum to Complain
The State Bar Council is the appropriate forum to lodge a complaint against an advocate.(( Section 35(1), Advocates Act, 1961)) Upon receiving a complaint, or on its own motion, the State Bar Council can refer a case of misconduct to one of its Disciplinary Committees.(( Section 35(1);Section 35 (1A), Advocates Act, 1961))
Further, the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India also has the power to withdraw any pending proceeding from the State Bar Council and attend to the matter.(( Section 36(2), Advocates Act, 1961))
If a case has been pending before the State Bar Council for more than a year since the receipt of complaint, the case shall be transferred to the Bar Council of India.(( Section 36B (1), Advocates Act, 1961)) If a person is not satisfied with the decision of the State Bar Council, they have the right to appeal to the Bar Council of India within 60 days of the communication of the decision.(( Section 37(1), Advocates Act, 1961)) If the person is still aggrieved by the decision of the Bar Council of India, they can approach the Supreme Court within 60 days of the communication of the decision.(( Section 38, Advocates Act, 1961))
Procedure to complain
State Bar Councils accept complaints against an advocate in the form of a petition, duly signed and verified. If you want to find the format, you can approach your State Bar Council which will have a prescribed standard format of complaint, along with the fees. Additionally, formats used can include languages such as English, Hindi or the language of the respective State. (( Rule 1, Chapter 1, Part VII, Bar Council of India Rules, 1975))
After a person submits the complaint, the Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar Council will inquire into the matter.
Punishing an Advocate
When a complaint has been made against an advocate, the Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar Council will give an opportunity for the advocate to defend themself. Further, the Advocate General of the State will also be present during the inquiry. After the inquiry, the Committee will either:
- Reprimand the advocate;
- Suspend the advocate for the time being;
- Remove the advocate’s name from the State roll;
- Dismiss the complaint.(( Section 35, Advocates Act, 1961))
Harshal Kakade
August 7, 2022
Complaining against an Advocate
Muneeswari
October 12, 2023
நான் ஒரு டிரைவர் லாரி டிரைவர் என்னால் ஒரு விபத்து ஏற்பட்டது அதில் ஒரு வயதான அம்மா இறந்து விட்டார்கள் ஒரு வழக்கறிஞரை நான் வாதாடுவதற்கு அமர்த்தினேன் அவர் எனக்கு தண்டனையும் ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் அபதாரமும் வாங்கி கொடுத்தார் அதன் பின்பு நான் வேறு ஒரு வழக்கறிஞர் வழக்கறிஞரை அவரிடம் என்னுடைய கேசை முப்படைத்தேன் அவரிடம் தயிர ரூபாய் பணம் கேட்டார் நான் அதையும் கொடுத்தேன் அவர் தேவைப்படும்போதெல்லாம் பணம் கேட்டார் நான் கொடுத்தேன் ஆனால் எனக்கு தீர்ப்பு எனக்கு சாதகமாக வரவில்லை எனக்கு ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் அபதாரமும் ஒன்றரை வருடம் தண்டனையும் ஜெயில் தண்டனையும் வாங்கி கொடுத்தார் இப்போ அதே வழக்கறிஞர் எனக்கு பத்தாயிரம் பணம் கொடு மறுபடியும் வாதாடி உனக்கு சாதகமாக தீர்ப்பு வாதாடுகிறேன் என்று கூறி எங்களிடம் காசு கேட்டு எங்களை தொந்தரவு படுத்துகிறார் நாங்கள் மிகவும் மன உளைச்சலுக்கு மிகவும் ஆளாகி விட்டோம் இதைப் பற்றி கேட்பதற்கு யாருமே இல்லையா எங்களுக்கு உதவி பண்றதுக்கு யாருமே இல்லையா நாங்கள் நடுத்தர மக்கள்
Aditya Prakash Deshpande
January 20, 2024
I had filed a divorce case more than 3 years ago. My lawyer has been most inactive. She has not filed an application for visitation despite multiple requests. I haven’t met my only son since June 2020. Now she is advising me to withdraw the case because I cannot pay for maintenance. I have bipolar disorder & have been jobless for over a year. If I cannot trust my lawyer, I don’t know what to do anymore.
Alka Manral
May 30, 2024
Divorce matters can be lengthy and time-consuming, yet, if your lawyer is non-receptive and inactive you may
firstly, change the lawyer after getting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the current lawyer and mentioning it to the court
or you can get help from the District Legal Services Authority for engaging a lawyer for free (subject to eligibility criteria).
In case of grave situations, you may complain against your lawyer to the State Bar Council.
Furthermore, to minimise legal complexities, Section 13 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 allows parties to appear before to court themselves.
Shamim Bano
September 10, 2022
I had an advocate as my tenant from 2017.Being away from home ,this advocate was occupying my first floor,least bothered maintain the property.Even after the expiry of agreement he continued to stay in my house,violating the terms and conditions of the agreement.Now he has vacated my property after defacing it.He has also taken away the advance amount without paying the due charges.I am an elderly lady,.I am alone with my differently abled son.Please guide me as to how to deal with this.
Nyaaya
September 19, 2022
We’re sorry to hear about this untoward situation. Here is what you can do:
Firstly, document all the damage done to the premises and ascertain the monetary requirements for reverting the damages.
As a recourse a Legal Notice should be sent by your advocate on your behalf seeking recovery of advance amount and amount for fixing damages done to the property.
Further, a civil suit for recovery of damages caused to the property can be filed after due time is given to the tenant to repay the amount.
Note: Countersigned Rent Agreement with a stamp paper to verify the tenancy agreement and photographic evidence of damage caused to property by the tenant will be needed as valid proof to come to the suit.
v sathish
August 30, 2023
ஜெயங்கொண்டம் தாலுகா ஆண்டிமடம் வக்கீலாக பணி புரியும் திரு சிலம்பரசன் அவர்கள் வாரிசு வேலைக்கு வழக்கு பதிவு செய்து தருவேன் என்று இதுவரை மொத்த பணம் ரூபாய் 50,000 ஆயிரம் பெற்றுக்கொண்டு போன் மூலம் அழைப்புதல் கேட்டால் உன்னால் என்ன பண்ண முடியும் உன்னால் முடிந்ததை பாரு என்று தகாத முறையில் பதில் அளிக்கின்றார் ஆகையால் அவரை கனம் ஐயா அவர்கள் தீர்க்க விசாரிக்க வேண்டும் என்று மிகவும் பணிவுடன் கேட்டுக்கொள்கிறேன்
SHOURYA
October 11, 2022
IF AN ADVOCATE CHEATS ON SOMEONE OR ANOTHER PERSON HAS EVIDENCE RECORD AGAINST THE ADVOCATE BAR COUNCIL TAKING ACTION AGAINST THE ADVOCATE OR NOT PLS REPLIES TO ME.
Nyaaya
October 25, 2022
A complaint against an advocate has to be in the form of a petition. It has to be duly signed and verified as required under the Code of Civil Procedure. Every complaint shall be accompanied by the fees prescribed in the Bar Council of India Rules. The complaint can be filed in English or in Hindi or in a regional language where the language has been declared to be a state language.
After a person submits the complaint, the Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar Council will inquire into the matter. Once the Bar Council has referred the complaint to a Disciplinary Committee, the Registrar should expeditiously send a notice to the advocate. The notice will ask the concerned advocate to point out cause within a specified dateon the complaint made against him and to submit the statement of defence, documents, and affidavits in support of the defence. It will also further inform him that just in case of his non-appearance on the fixed date of hearing, the matter shall be heard and determined in his absence. An appearance usually includes the presence of an advocate or through a duly authorized representative.
Parties can appear face to face or through an advocate who should file a vakalatnama giving the name of the Bar Council, his residential address, phone number if any, and his address for service of notices.
The disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council has the power to reprimand, suspend for any specific period or remove the name of the advocate from the State roll of advocates
Harry
November 21, 2022
Hello,I am looking for information on how to contact the proper persons to report possible wrong doing by an Advocate lawyer in India.My family in Canada are dealing with the son of this Advocate.The son is wanted in India & has an arrest warrant issued. He has been helped to leave India on two different times & has had his passport taken by the Embassy of India in Canada. This person has given false & misleading information to our Immigration & Border Security. He has stated that he had an unfair trial in India & sentenced in India in a language he does not understand. He had put an appeal in but did not mention this to the courts if India. But his Father the. Advocate did pay & arrange a lawyer to represent his son & the Fathers main language is the same as used in India. This was all done to help here in Canada. The appeal went to the higher court & sentence was up help. The person in question was removed from jail after a large bail bond was paid & he was taken out & shortly after he left India & returned to Canada. There is much more,I need to talk with someone with authority
Kp singh
June 17, 2023
I am simple person living in small town of who was repairing my house .some neighbours out of jealousy have given money to advocate to file a complaint with City magistrate and getting stay issued and repair work is stopped.
How can complaint against advocate for filing false complaint without verification and causing me harrasment .
Alka Manral
July 8, 2024
You can appeal against the stay order by approaching the District Magistrate Court with the help of a lawyer. Once the stay order is invalidated, you can continue your repair work.
You can file a case for mischief against your neighbor under S. 425 IPC. You can also file a complaint against the opposing counsel if he/she has harassed you. This can be done by filing a petition, duly signed and verified to the State Bar Council, by attaching the prescribed fees. This complaint shall be further referred to the disciplinary committee and necessary action shall be taken. If you are not satisfied with the State Bar Council’s decision, you can appeal to the Bar Council of India within 60 days of communication of decision, and further you can appeal against the Bar Council of India by approaching the Supreme Court within 60 days of communication of decision.
If you feel that there was use of false documents for evidence purposes, without verification, you can file a case under S. 463 IPC.
Mrs PBH
August 10, 2023
I am a senior citizen lady and have been financially cheated by my advocate. He wrote me several invoices for legal procedures that were neither necssary nor did he really execute and has taken away all my savings. I plan to complain about him to the Bar Council.
Can enybody help with the format/template of the petition one must write in order to have this complaint addressed by the Bar Council of Delhi.
I will be very grateful.
Thanks
kathiresan
August 17, 2023
what action to be taken against a advocate who is appearing for complainanat and respondent
Alka Manral
September 2, 2024
In this case, a complaint can be submitted to the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India, alleging non-compliance of the Bar Council of India’s Rules on Professional Standards, Chapter VI Part-II, in a similar format of a petition as per the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. complaint can be in English or any other language designated as state language. Further details as to complaint can be found in Part VII of Bar Council of India Rules.
Purushottamsingh
September 14, 2023
Self harassed from advocate as he is demand money for file recovered, in connection said advocate disconnected the case on issued notice to me last one year, get me advice as suggestions please…
Venkat
November 27, 2023
How complaint against cheated advocate to online
Niranjan Ambadas Borhade
December 15, 2023
I have a case in family court, the counsel of the opposite side is changing the date I took indirectly and without informing me and not giving me any idea about it so I cannot attend the date, the counsel of the opposite side is deliberately acting to make me suffer, so I want to complain against them
Anisha
December 17, 2023
என் கணவனின் சொத்தை எப்படியாவது எடுக்க வேண்டும் எண்று என் கணவனின் தங்கை அட்வகேட் அவரின் அம்மா அப்பா மூலம் ஏவி என்னை கஷ்டப்படுத்துகிறார் நான் ஒரு மீனவ சமுதாயத்தை சார்ந்த பெண் என் ஜாதியை கேவல படுத்தி அசிங்கமா கூறுகிறார்
प्रविण अशोक रोकडे
March 27, 2024
आम्ही एका व्यक्तीला आमची जमीन विकली
व त्याला खरेदी ही दिली.
त्याने खरेदीच्या वेळी आम्हाला चेक दिले आम्ही
ते चेक बऱ्यादा बँकेत जमा केले.पण ते बाऊन्स
झाले.मग आम्ही पुढे कोर्टात केस केली आम्हाला
वाटत की एक किंवा तीन वर्ष लागतील.पण आमच्या केसला पूर्ण दहा वर्ष लागले. व निर्णय
आरोपीच्या बाजूने लागला.आम्ही आमच्या वकिलाला विचारले की बाबा असे कसे झाले
वकील सरळ आम्हाला म्हणतो.की मला विचारू नका.करू करायचं ते करा.परत माझ्याकडे येऊ नका…
Please ह्या पद्दल आम्हाला काही मदत होईल का?
आमचं पूर्ण आयुष ह्या केसवर अवलंबून होत
आम्हाला असे वाटत आहे की आमच्या आयुष्याची
रूपरेषा कधी चांगली होणार नाही…
आम्ही खचून गेलो
Alka Manral
June 27, 2024
तुम्ही एका व्यक्तीला तुमची जमीन विकली आणि त्याला खरेदीही दिली. त्याने खरेदीच्या वेळी तुम्हाला चेक दिले होते, पण ते चेक बँकेत जमा केले असता बाऊन्स झाले. मग तुम्ही पुढे कोर्टात केस केली आणि तुम्हाला वाटलं की एक किंवा तीन वर्ष लागतील. पण तुमच्या केसला पूर्ण दहा वर्ष लागली आणि निर्णय आरोपीच्या बाजूने लागला. तुम्ही तुमच्या वकिलाला विचारलं की हे असं कसं झालं, तर वकील सरळ तुम्हाला म्हणतो की मला विचारू नका, जे काही करायचं ते करा, परत माझ्याकडे येऊ नका.
कृपया या संदर्भात आम्हाला काही मदत होऊ शकते का? आमचं पूर्ण आयुष्य या केसवर अवलंबून होतं. आम्हाला असं वाटतं आहे की आमच्या आयुष्याची रूपरेषा कधी चांगली होणार नाही. आम्ही खचून गेलो आहोत.
सल्ला:
नवीन वकील शोधा: तुम्हाला एक अनुभवी आणि प्रामाणिक वकील शोधणे आवश्यक आहे जो अशा प्रकारच्या प्रकरणांमध्ये तज्ज्ञ आहे. अनेक वेळा वकीलांची चुकीमुळे आपला केस प्रभावित होतो.
उच्च न्यायालयात अपील: तुम्ही उच्च न्यायालयात अपील करू शकता. तिथे नवीन पुरावे आणि माहिती सादर करून तुमच्या केसला नवीन दिशा देऊ शकता.
कायदेशीर सल्लागारांची मदत: काही संस्था आणि NGO आहेत ज्या विनामूल्य कायदेशीर सल्ला देतात. त्यांच्या मदतीने तुम्ही तुमच्या केसचा पुढील मार्ग शोधू शकता.
पुरावे आणि कागदपत्रांची तपासणी: सर्व पुरावे आणि कागदपत्रांची तपासणी करा. कुठे काही चूक झाली आहे का हे शोधा आणि त्याचं निराकरण करा.
लोकल बार असोसिएशन: तुमच्या स्थानिक बार असोसिएशनला संपर्क साधा. तिथे तुम्हाला योग्य मार्गदर्शन आणि मदत मिळू शकते.
सामाजिक आणि मानसिक आधार:
आपल्या कुटुंबीय आणि मित्रांशी बोलून त्यांच्या मानसिक आधार घ्या.
स्वतःला धीर द्या आणि आत्मविश्वास ठेवा की परिस्थिती सुधारेल.
योगा आणि मेडिटेशन करून मानसिक तणाव कमी करा.
हे सर्व उपाय केल्यास तुमची परिस्थिती सुधारू शकते आणि तुम्हाला न्याय मिळण्याची शक्यता वाढू शकते.
sd md
April 30, 2024
my advocate not file IA counter file ,nor he informed me what other party Putted the IA on me, after an year i got to know from mobile in e-court application, since from last one year my advocate not file counter file, if in next date of hearing if my advocate still not file the counter file it will be forfeit. when i ask him why you were not informed me about the IA putted by other party , he is not answered my questions, till now why you were not counter file about that IA’s still he is not answered. after continuous asking with him he said my wish to counter the file or not.
what action taken against him ?
Alka Manral
August 20, 2024
Unfortunately, clients have no recourse under any exisiting laws, not even the Consumer Protection Act since advocates are exempt from liability under the Act for any deficiency in legal services. Your only options may be to either stop payments to this lawyer until he files a counter to the interim application in question or get a different lawyer who will be more proactive in filing the counter within the court mandated deadline. You can also file a complaint with the Bar Council of your state against this advocate but I would not recommend having too much faith on them to take strict action against such advocates even though they could.
J.D Raj
May 1, 2024
im husband and i have enrolled my wife in legal profession as lawyer and paid fee for bar council transfer of bar admission to my state. Actually her education is totally differ to this lawyer – advocate profession. From last 3 years she is mentally disturb with other things and recently she joined practice under senior and taking differ wrong advice from them and experimenting on me and my daughters life emotionally blackmailing against property and other things, now she left house and staying out and kept complaint on my 498-A, 406 323 IPC, 3,4 DPA / basically im from HRC to my state V.C – can i call her to HRC court and show her previous misbehavior and written notes which can prove she is mentally disturb.
Alka Manral
May 31, 2024
If there are ongoing cases on Section 498-A, 406, 323 IPC, 3, 4 DPA in a particular case. One cannot file another claim in a different court to prove legal insanity. However, the defence can be claimed and proven for the same, in the court where the proceedings are ongoing.