28 lawyers suspended over fake claim cases in UP

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) The Bar Council of India said on Monday that it has suspended 28 lawyers from Uttar Pradesh, whose names were listed in FIRs or chargesheets for allegedly filing fake compensation claims before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal under the Workmen Compensation Act.

In an official statement, the apex bar body noted that the recent order of the Supreme Court, in which it was observed that consequent to the direction passed by the Allahabad High Court to the SIT in Lucknow for investigation into cases of suspicious claims, 233 such claims of various insurance companies were dismissed or dismissed in default or not pressed, due to which various claim petitions totalling Rs 300,76,40,000 were rejected by the tribunal.

The BCI further quoted the apex court statement that "out of 92 criminal cases in various districts registered till date, in which 28 advocates have been named as accused in 55 cases, the investigation has been concluded in 32 cases and the chargesheets have been filed. In the rest of the cases, the probe is stated to be pending.

In compliance with the court's previous order, BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra had appeared before the bench hearing the matter. During the hearing, he submitted that the UP Bar Council failed to cooperate with the BCI by not sharing the names of the advocates filing fake claims.

The apex bar body said that a meeting was held on November 19 in which the decision to suspend 28 advocates was taken.

It also directed the Bar Council of UP to conduct an inquiry against these lawyers and submit a report within three months.