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Bar council must disclose complaints: Another blistering anti-secrecy order from CIC's Sridhar (ex-Nalsar)

Sridhar nails Delhi bar council for keeping its decisions secret
Sridhar nails Delhi bar council for keeping its decisions secret
"The Central Information Commission has directed the Bar Council of Delhi to proactively make public the cases of professional misconduct, both proved and not proved, against advocates at regular intervals or as and when the decision was taken,” reported PTI.

Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu - the former registrar of Nalsar Hyderabad who had earlier this year also slammed the Bar Council of India (BCI) hard in an order and an editorial for being in ‘major breach’ of its obligations under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, said in his order against the Delhi bar council that:

If a client complains against the professional misconduct of advocate, the bar council has a duty to examine it and to pronounce its decision not just to the complainant. Such a decision has to be in there public domain. Transparency requirement does not allow Bar Council of Delhi to keep its decisions secret...

The Commission agrees with the justifiable contention of the appellant and directs the Bar Council of Delhi to report/publish the cases of professional misconduct, both proved and not proved, at regular intervals or as and when the decision was taken in compliance of Section 4 (1) of RTI Act in their official website or journal or by any other means of publication convenient to it...

Indeed, the monopoly conferred on the legal profession by Parliament is coupled with a responsibility - a responsibility towards the people, especially the poor...

If not people should know action against him. Right to know of the people arises out of this responsibility of Bar Council...

Bar Council should understand the purport of above referred judicial pronouncements is properly understood, the Bar Council has to publish these reports because generally the entire people are positively affected by the good conduct to some extent and harmfully affected by misconduct of the advocates, and if the Bar Council punishes them or brings out genuineness of service, it will neutralize the impact.

For that purposes it has to publish the reports of the disciplinary proceedings.

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