Shreya Gupta
On 14th May, 2025, the Madhya Pradesh High Court directed the Bar Association at the Indore Bench to issue general guidelines advising lawyers not to file affidavits verifying facts on behalf of their clients.
The Bench comprised of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Gajendra Singh. The Court took exception to the practice of advocates swearing affidavits in support of factual claims made in applications submitted for their clients. It emphasized that advocates are not supposed to verify or affirm facts in legal pleadings since they are not witnesses to the events forming the basis of such claims.
This directive was issued while the Court was hearing an application for the suspension of sentence filed by a convict. The application, notably, was supported by an affidavit sworn by the counsel representing the convict, wherein the counsel claimed that the convict was falsely implicated and had committed no offence. Questioning this, the Court stated that an advocate cannot verify such factual assertions, as the lawyer was not present at the time of the alleged incident.
Consequently, the Court deprecated this practice and directed the Registry not to accept any such applications supported by affidavits of advocates and further ordered a copy of the order to be sent to the Bar Association for implementation. The application was ultimately dismissed. Advocate Chandra Prakash Purohit represented the appellant, while Deputy Advocate General Sudeep Bhargava appeared for the State.
Case Title: Lavkesh v. State of Madhya Pradesh
Bench: Justice Vivek Rusia and Gajendra Singh
Click here to access the order
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