Law Firms Neither Competent Nor Authorised To File Vakalatnama: Bar Council Of Delhi Clarifies

Law firms are neither competent nor authorised to file Vakalatnama before any court, tribunal or authority, in arbitration or any other proceedings, the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) has clarified.

The clarification dated November 11, 2018 has been issued in view of the contemporary practice following by law firms, where they file Vakalatnamas in the firm’s name. Axing the practice, the clarification now asserts that if such a Vakalatnama is signed by a law firm and not an advocate, it “should not be entertained or accepted.”

BCD further clarified that every Vakalatnama has to be “duly signed by an advocate, mentioning his/her name, along with enrolment number, and must be affixed with the welfare stamp of requisite value as being mandatory, without which the Vakalatnama cannot be accepted.”