New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the response of Bar Council of India (BCI) and Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) on ex-law minister Jitender Singh Tomar's plea to close a case of fake degree against him on the ground that he was already facing prosecution in a criminal case on the same issue.
Justice V P Vaish also issued notices to Avadh university where Tomar had claimed to have completed his B.Sc degree, and the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Study College (BSILS), Munger (Bihar) where he had purportedly studied LLB.
The court has asked the two institutions to file their replies before the next date of hearing next month. The court asked the law body to reply, after AAP MLA Tomar moved an application praying that petition by advocate Santosh Kumar Sharma be closed as it does not survive since the issue was being probed by the police now. He further said that a criminal case has already been registered against him and he was facing prosecution.
The case has been brewing prior to Tomar's election as an MLA, as a writ petition was filed before the Delhi High court on February 4, alleging that he had given "false information" in his affidavit while filing his nomination.
In his plea, Sharma claimed that Tomar had submitted a "fake and bogus" undergraduate degree in science from Avadh University to get enrolled in the Bishwanath Singh Institute of Legal Studies College. He was enrolled as a lawyer by the BCD on the basis of a law degree from this college.
49-year-old Tomar, MLA from Trinagar, was arrested on June 9 following an investigation into a complaint by BCD that he had obtained a fake law degree from Bihar college. Tomar is currently on bail.
An FIR was registered against him on June 8 at Hauz Khas police station and he was booked for alleged offences of cheating, forgery, using forged documents, forgery with intent to cheat and criminal conspiracy.
Interestingly, the BSILS College in its affidavit before the Delhi High court had said that Tomar had been a bonafide LLB student though he had completed his LLB in four years and not three years. In contrast, the Tilka Manjhi University, which is the affiliating university for the Law college, has said that the roll number given by Tomar do not match their records.
