The Bench and the Bar

The Delhi high court Bar Association on Wednesday called off its strike protesting the clearance of bill by the Rajya Sabha to increase pecuniary jurisdiction of the high court as parliament adjourned before it could be passed by the Lok Sabha.

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) has filed a complaint against Delhi LawMinister Jitender Singh Tomar and sought a probe into his alleged’fake law degree’ case, according to a letter by BCD to the DelhiPolice.

“The Bar Council of Delhi has observed that Jitender Singh Tomar hasenrolled himself in the council as an advocate by misrepresenting thefacts. Both universities claimed that the documents are forged,” saidBCD Secretary Puneet Mittal in his written complaint to DCP Hauz Khasarea.

The complaint was filed on May 11 after the two universities whosecertificates Tomar had furnished, claimed the degrees were fake.

The complaint letter stated that Tomar had claimed to have obtained agraduate degree from Ram Manohar Lohiya Avadh University, Faizabad inUP which the aforesaid university claimed to be forged.

As per the letter, Bihar’s Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, statedthat the provisional Ll.B certificate bearing a serial number as 3687,submitted by Tomar at the time of his enrolment, was a fabricateddocument.

“It is, therefore, requested that a detailed preliminary enquiry may beconducted with respect to the alleged forged documents for commission ofoffences punishable under the Indian Penal Code. The report in thisconnection may be submitted before the council on or before May 28,"wrote Mittal in his complaint letter to the police.

As Vikram Hegde explained in a Legally India column on Livemint yesterday, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was acquitted by the Karnataka high court in appeal because it found that only 8 per cent of her assets were illegal (because there was no proof of their origin).

The Delhi high court Bar Association (DHCBA) has called for an extension of its strike against the Rajya Sabha passing the bill to increase lower courts’ pecuniary jurisdiction, asking for “complete abstention from work” on 12 and 13 May.

The Bombay high court has designated the seven advocates as senior lawyers.