Under the scanner

Siliguri, Feb. 3: To identify lawyers who do not have valid degrees and prevent them from cheating litigants, the Bar Council of West Bengal has decided to launch a website containing information about every practising attorney in the state.

The move, council sources said, follows the arrest of six fake lawyers and identification of three others in Calcutta on Friday.

“Our apprehension that a section of lawyers in the state are practising with fake certificates and degrees has been confirmed,” said Gautam Das, the chairman of the enrolment committee of the council, today. “The council has already lodged a complaint with the Hare Street police station in Calcutta and is planning to maintain a database to help litigants and stop frauds from cheating them.”

The database, Das said, would be continuously updated. “Our plan is to launch a website as well, which will carry information about every lawyer in the state. It will also have the council’s phone and fax numbers and e-mail IDs. In case any litigant wishes to cross-check the genuineness of a lawyer, he or she can surf the website or call us,” he said. “The bar would charge Rs 10 for verification to be done on the same day.”

In case any fraud lawyer is identified, the council, as it has done in the last case, will lodge a complaint with the police and insist on action on charges of cheating the public.

Last Friday, six persons — identified as Ashok Kumar Burman, Dilip Acharya, Ananda Das, Partha Das, Somnath Sarkar and Masood Karim—were arrested in Calcutta for practising law with fake certificates. “They had obtained LLB certificates from Ranchi and Bhagalpur universities. However, when the police cross-checked, the varsities said the certificates had not been issued by them,” Das, who is based in Jalpaiguri, said. “These lawyers have been practising for the past seven-eight years in different courts of the state.”

Three others, identified as Tapas Kar, Srijan Chakraborty and Manas Bhattacharya, are absconding with the anti-fraud section of Calcutta Police searching for them.

Information about any fake lawyer or person possessing fake law certificates and practising in any court of law in the state can be provided to the bar council at (033) 22488956 or a complaint faxed at (033) 2248-7233.