New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Thursday noted that advocates are bound by the instructions of their clients and are under no legal obligation to verify their truthfulness, as it is to be decided by the court hearing the matter.Dismissing a complaint lodged by a man against three lawyers who appeared for his opponent in court, HC emphasised that the duty of the lawyer is to submit the case as per instructions, which was done in the present matter.“We may also record that an advocate is bound by the instructions given to him by his client, and it does not form part of his duty to verify the truthfulness or veracity of such instructions, especially for the reason that the assertions made by the parties before the court in the form of pleadings or setting up a case are to be decided by the learned court concerned in the proceedings and not by the lawyers representing the respective parties,” a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said.The court agreed with the conclusions of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) and a single-judge bench of HC that there was no misconduct by the advocates who represented the opposite party against the litigant, Chand Mehra.“On the basis of the contents of the complaint lodged by the appellant (Mehra) against the respondents, no case of professional misconduct is made out. Further, if the complaint made by the appellant is to be acted upon and proceeded with for taking action against the respondents, the same will result in undermining the duties which an advocate owes to his client,” the court pointed out.Mehra had moved HC against a 2023 BCD order that dismissed his complaint on the grounds that he and the three lawyers had no professional relationship as they represented the opposite party in a cheque-bounce matter.BCD also rejected the allegation that the lawyers ought to have ascertained the facts with due diligence and contested the matter on behalf of their respective clients against Mehra only after verification.
