Lawyer Moves High Court Challenging Bar Council Of Delhi’s Notification Making Aadhar Card, Voter ID With Delhi Or NCR Address Mandatory For Enrolments

A petition has been moved in the Delhi High Court by a lawyer challenging a recent notification issued by the Bar Council of Delhi making the filing of Aadhar Card and Voter ID bearing address of Delhi or NCR region mandatory for future enrolments.

The plea has been moved by Advocate Rajani Kumar, a law graduate from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University and a resident of Bihar.

It is her 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.

Filed through Advocates Lalit Kumar, Shashank Upadhyay and Mukesh, the plea submits that the notification published on April 13 is arbitrary, discriminatory and against the provisions of the Advocates Act.

The matter was listed today before Justice Prathiba M Singh who asked Advocate Lalit Kumar to implead the Bar Council of India in the plea and listed it for hearing on May 02.

Justice Singh has asked the parties to assist the court on the next date of hearing as to whether the domicile requirement is there in State Bar Councils and in which States the same is imposed.

”Let the amended memo of parties be filed within five days,” the court said.

The plea submits that the State cannot compel a citizen to give up their voting rights in their original place of domicile solely on the basis of their employment in a different constituency.

“The requirement of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card with the address of Delhi or NCR imposes an unreasonable restriction on the exercise of these rights. It hinders the ability of law graduates from other states to join the legal profession in Delhi or NCR, and it limits their ability to form associations with other legal professionals in these areas,” the plea adds.

In the notification issued by BCD, the lawyers’ body 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 notice states.

Title: Rajani Kumari v. BCD