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Synopsis

A petition has been moved by a lawyer namely, Rajani Kumar before the Delhi High Court on Thursday challenging the recent notification of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) mandating Aadhar Card and Voter ID address of Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) for future enrolments.

Kumar is a resident of Bihar, who graduated from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi. He has filed the present petition through Advocate Lalit Kumar. Kumar seeks to apply for enrolment with the Bar Council of Delhi.

The plea stated that the BCD’s notification published on April 13 creates an "arbitrary classification" between law graduates based on their residential address, which is a violation of Article 14.

The impugned notification stated:

“...all those law Graduates, who wish to apply for Enrolment with the Bar Council of Delhi shall be required to attach copy of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card of Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region) along with their respective Application and other documents and the Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card must bear the address of Delhi or NCR. Henceforth no enrolment shall be done without the copy of Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card bearing the address of Delhi / NCR.”

“Article 19 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble peaceably, and the right to form associations or unions. The requirement of an Aadhaar Card and Voter ID Card with the address of Delhi or NCR imposes an unreasonable restriction on the exercise of these rights. It hinders the ability of law graduates from other states to join the legal profession in Delhi or NCR, and it limits their ability to form associations with other legal professionals in these areas.”, the plea argued.

It stated that changing the address on a voter ID card would essentially mean that a law graduate belonging to a place of domicile other than Delhi/ NCR will have to give up their voting rights in their original place of domicile solely on the basis of their employment in a different constituency.

“The state cannot compel a citizen to give up their voting rights in their original place of domicile solely on the basis of their employment in a different constituency. In a democratic system, voting is a fundamental right of every citizen, and this right cannot be taken away or restricted without due process of law”, the plea added.

During the hearing today, Justice Prathiba M. Singh directed the petitioner to implead the Bar Council of India (BCI) as a party to the plea. Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further hearing on May 2.

Case Title: Rajani Kumari v. Bar Council of Delhi