CHENNAI: THE Disciplinary Committee attached to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has debarred three advocates from practising for five years for their misconduct and violation of the Bar Council rules.
The charges against the three advocates – A Raveendran, A Jeyakumar and M Murugan –were that they had fraudulently filed three separate affidavits before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in Chennai, claiming compensation for the one and same accident without the knowledge of the victim, involving a vehicle, involved in some other accident elsewhere on some other date.
The Committee, headed by senior advocate R Singaravelan, found that the three lawyers were guilty under various sections of the Advocates Act and that of the Bar Council. In fact, they all deserved the major punishment of removal from the Bar, Singaravelan said in the order delivered on Feb 27.
However, as the three advocates expressed their willingness to pay `3 lakh each, to the family members of the victims, the committee modified the punishment to six months. They shall submit DDs for the amount in favour of the claimants and hand over the same straight away to the victims, the order said. The committee also suggested involvement of the State Legal Services Authority to curb such frauds.