The Bar Council of Delhi has been directed by the Delhi High Court for initiating appropriate action against a lawyer who was accused of creating a fake order of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB).
The division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Shalinder Kaur disposed of the suo motu contempt proceedings initiated by the High Court after a fabricated IPAB order was placed before it.
The Court’s November 16 order said that we hereby direct the Bar Council of Delhi to take appropriate action, as per law against the said Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal, Advocate, if, he is found guilty of manufacturing the order dated 02.03.2016 purported to be by IPAB.
The IPAB order had been placed before the High Court by the defendants during the hearing of a trademark suit.
A vigilance inquiry conducted found out that no such order exist, leading a single judge to refer the matter to the Chief Justice for the initiation of contempt proceedings in the matter.
The defendant against who the contempt proceedings were initiated has apologized unconditionally before the Court . He also explained the circumstances under which he came in possession of the false document in question.
The defendant told the Court that he procured the said document by one, advocate Sanjay Aggarwal in April 2016. The defendant also claimed that Aggarwal was said to have been engaged to represent the defendants before the Trademark Registry and IPAB.
The main defendant (the first respondent in the suo motu contempt proceedings) after finding that the IPAB order was manufactured,filed a complaint before the Bar Council of Delhi against Aggarwal.
The matter is pending consideration there, the Court was informed.
Having considered this explanation, the Court accepted the respondents’ apology and discharged them from the contempt proceedings, while directing the Bar Council of Delhi to take action against the accused lawyer if he is found guilty.