HC imposes Rs 1 lakh cost on Mohali lawyer

Vijay Arora

Shimla, November 20

The HP High Court has imposed Rs 1 lakh as cost on a Mohali-based lawyer for professional misconduct.

The court has directed him to deposit the money with the HP High Court Advocates Welfare Fund within four weeks and listed the matter for compliance on December 18.

The court passed the order on a petition seeking a fair probe into a rape case. During the course of hearing in the case, it was noticed that the accused, Vikram Singh, had filed a bail application and a petition for the quashing of the FIR registered against him before the High Court, wherein the petitioner (Vikram Singh) was shown to be a permanent resident of Australia, but the affidavit that was filed in the support of the petition showed that the same was attested at Shimla on July 15, 2020.

Taking cognizance of the matter, the court issued a notice to the Mohali-based lawyer, local counsel and the Shimla-based oath commissioner, who had attested the affidavit, and sought their responses on the issue. The lawyer admitted his mistake and tendered an unconditional apology before the court.

While reprimanding the advocate, a Division Bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua directed him to pay Rs 50,000 to the oath commissioner for misleading him by saying that his client was sitting outside the court premises.