The Allahabad High Court has directed the state government and the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council to stop granting advocacy licenses to any person accused or convicted in a criminal case. The court has said that the Bar Council should adopt the procedure for disclosing the crime registered in the application form itself.

Before issuing the license, a report should be obtained from the police. If the license is obtained by hiding the facts, the application should be rejected.

The court has given this order in view of the history of 14 criminal cases and the delay in the Bar Council taking a decision on the complaint against granting advocacy licenses to the opposition convicted in four cases. The court has directed the Bar Council to dispose of the petitioner's complaint against opposition Jai Krishna Mishra within three months. The court has said that if such people continue to be given advocacy licenses, it will be harmful not only for the legal profession but also for the society.

The court has directed it to apply the process of disclosure in the application to all the pending and filed applications.

This order has been given by the division bench of Justice SD Singh and Justice Vinod Diwakar

Advocate Suresh Chandra Dwivedi argued the petition. They said that the opposition advocate has a criminal history and is convicted, yet the Bar Council has given him a license. No decision is being taken on the complaint made by the petitioner against this on September 22. The court said that granting licenses to such people is prohibited by the Advocate Act.

The court asked the Bar Council to also include the police report of the concerned police station in the process of granting license. Also, disclosure of the crime registered in the application should be made mandatory. The application should be rejected if facts are hidden. The Bar Council has not yet adopted such a procedure.