On Monday, the Delhi High Court rejected a case seeking the removal of advocate Sanjeev Nasiar from his position as Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD).

Justice Sachin Datta dismissed the plea alleging that Nasiar's law degree was fake and forged. The Court stated that there was currently no basis to support the request for Nasiar's removal from his position.

“At present, however, there is no basis to accede to the prayers made by the petitioner in the present petition qua the respondent no.3 [Sanjeev Nasiar]. The petition qua the respondent no.3 is, therefore, dismissed,” the Court ordered.

However, the Court directed the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) to forward Nasiar’s documents and certificates to the Bar Council of India (BCI). The BCI is authorized to conduct an inquiry and take appropriate action if any wrongdoing is discovered.

“The BCD is, accordingly, directed to provide the requisite documents/ certificates/records to the BCI. Needless to say, it would be open for the BCI to conduct inquiry/take action, as it may deem appropriate, in any event of any wrongdoing being uncovered on the part of the concerned university,” the High Court directed.

The plea, filed by Naresh Chand Gupta, former President of the Delhi Bar Association, sought a writ of quo warranto against Nasiar. Gupta alleged that Nasiar was enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) using a forged and fabricated LLB degree. Gupta requested that the BCD and the Bar Council of India (BCI) remove Nasiar and another advocate, Dalip Kumar Rana, from the roll of advocates and file an FIR against them for their alleged involvement in a “racket.”

While the Court dismissed the plea against Nasiar, it directed the BCI High Powered Committee to promptly complete the verification of Rana’s degree and certificate, noting that the BCD had already forwarded these documents for review.

Advocate Rajiv Khosla, Surendra Singh Chauhan and Gaurav Singh appeared for petitioner Naresh Chand Gupta.

BCD was represented by advocates Sanjeev Sagar, Nazia Parveen and Ajay Kumar Aggarwal. 

Senior Advocate Sacchin Puri along with advocates Shobhana Oberoi, Ravi Chawla, Praveen Sharma, Mukesh Drall, Bobby Sanjay Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Puneet Sharma, Rashmi, Ravi Srivastava and Fardeen Khan represented Sanjeev Nasiar.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma and advocates Preet Pal Singh, Amit Gupta, Vinay Yadav, Saurabh Tripathi, Saurabh Sharma and Vikramaditya Singh appeared for BCI.

Advocate HS Kohli represented Dalip Kumar Rana.