Hardly a week after police registered criminal cases against two fake lawyers for helping an engineer acquire a fake divorce by having someone pose as his wife in the family court and fabricating documents, the Principal District Judge in Coimbatore has directed advocates in the district to provide essential information to establish identity and ensure authenticity. Advocates are required to mention their names, TN Bar Council number, complete address and contact numbers on all documents to be submitted in the court including vakalats, petitions, counters and written statements to avoid malpractice and impersonation during legal trials.

It has been implemented in all courts in Coimbatore district from Thursday onwards. Meanwhile, the family court in Coimbatore has ordered advocates to affix a copy of their identity card issued by Coimbatore Bar Association along with the legal petitions to be submitted to the court with immediate effect.

The Coimbatore Bar Association (CBA) had passed a resolution on December 3 saying that the members of CBA should mention their names, enrollment numbers, complete address during filing of legal petitions before all courts in the district. A copy of the resolution was submitted to the principal district judge.

We advised all our members to mention their names, enrollment number and their complete address. We hope this initiative will be useful in identifying fake advocates. If the advocate does not provide the required information, he will not be accepted in court," said S Richards, Secretary, CBA.

Meanwhile, the family court has ordered advocates to affix a copy of their identity card issued by the CBA. The court has advised that during mutual divorce petitions, both parties should affix their marriage snaps or affix photos of complainants and parties.