Publish Notification Withdrawing Mandate Of Delhi-NCR Address Aadhar Card In Four Weeks: High Court To Bar Council Of Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Bar Council of Delhi to notify on its website the notification which withdrew an earlier notification issued on April 13 making filing of Aadhar Card and Voter ID bearing address of Delhi or NCR region mandatory for future enrolments.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula granted four weeks’ time to the lawyers’ body to notify the subsequent notification.

The court disposed of a petition moved by Advocate Rajani Kumari challenging the notification which said that the law graduates who wish to apply for enrolment shall be required to attach the copy of their Aadhar card and voter ID Card of Delhi or NCR, along with the enrolment application.

“Henceforth no enrolment shall be done without the copy of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card bearing the address of Delhi/NCR,” the notification had stated.

The counsel appearing for Bar Council of Delhi told the Court that the lawyers’ body has withdrawn the impugned notification. However, Advocate Lalit Kumar appearing for the petitioner told the court that the said withdrawal has not been notified on the official website.

“The counsel appearing for Bar Council of Delhi has made a statement in open court that the notification has been withdrawn. In light of the aforesaid, as the notification has been withdrawn by the Bar Council of Delhi, nothing further survives in the matter. The petition is disposed of,” the court said.

It added, “The counsel of Bar Council of Delhi is directed to notify the subsequent notification by which the earlier notification stands withdrawn, within a period of four weeks.”

It was Kumari’s case that the mandatory requirement of giving the said documents discriminates against those law graduates who do not have an address in Delhi or NCR and also creates an arbitrary classification between law graduates based on their residential address.

Responding to the plea, the Bar Council of India had told court that domicile of a law graduate is not a condition for enrolment with a State Bar Council as per law and that no other State Bar Council except Bar Council of Delhi has it as a requirement. 

Case Title: Rajani Kumari v. BCD

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 714