On Tuesday, in a development casting doubt over the integrity of court proceedings, the Supreme Court directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to initiate an inquiry into the alleged appearance of a ‘ghost litigant’ in a land dispute matter, and kept open the possibility of a police investigation depending on the outcome of the BCI’s findings.
A Division Bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Atul S Chandurkar granted the BCI eight weeks to conduct the inquiry and submit its report. The direction came in response to a request made by Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association President, Vipin Nair, who suggested that the professional regulatory body be given the first opportunity to ascertain whether any advocate was complicit in the episode before involving law enforcement agencies.
The case has drawn attention for its unusual procedural anomaly, the Apex Court, acting on a statement made by a purported opponent of the petitioner, who claimed to have reached a settlement, quashed adverse orders passed earlier by the Muzaffarpur trial court and the Patna High Court. The compromise, however, turned out to be false.
Nearly five months after the order was passed, the genuine respondent appeared before the Court and categorically stated that he had neither consented to any compromise nor engaged any lawyer to represent him in the proceedings. As both parties traded allegations of misconduct and urged the Court to direct a police probe, the Bench set aside its earlier order, which had been based on the purported, and now disputed, compromise.
The Court expressed serious concern over the possibility of deliberate manipulation of judicial proceedings through impersonation, terming the incident troubling and warranting institutional scrutiny. The BCI has been tasked with examining the alleged role of lawyers in facilitating or failing to prevent the fraudulent appearance. Only if its report indicates involvement of persons outside the legal profession will the Court consider directing a criminal investigation.
The matter is expected to be taken up again after the BCI files its report within the stipulated time.
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