Patna high court to allot temporary numbers to lawyers 'not on record' to file cases

PATNA: The Patna high court has decided to allot a temporary number to lawyers, who are not Advocates-on-Record (AORs), to file cases. The system has been introduced as the process of e-filing and virtual hearing started due to Covid-19.
The new system will give chance to young lawyers who have yet not been able to get an AOR number for which two sets of examinations are held by the high court annually.The examination is so tough that hardly three or four lawyers crack it in one go. the AOR number is must for filing any case in the Patna high court, which had introduced it ten years ago. That time, several lawyers practising in high court for several years were accorded the AOR numbers after filling up registration form. But young lawyers had to crack the examination.
Yogesh Chandra Verma, the coordination committee chairman of all three association of lawyers at Patna high court, welcomed the new system and said it would give young lawyers a chance to file cases. “Only those having an AOR number can file cases and hardly six to eight lawyers are able to pass examinations held twice every year. In the present situation, it was very difficult for a non-AOR lawyer to file case. The new system introduced by Chief Justice Sanjay Karol would help the young lawyers who will need to submit a form online,” Verma said.
“After a meeting on May 30, the coordination committee had urged Chief Justice Karol to keep the new system only for lawyers of all three associations of the Patna high court in order to avoid discrepancy for which AOR system was actually introduced ten years ago,” he said.
Ritika Rani, who had topped the AOR examination in August 2019, said the new system would help young lawyers a lot. “There are only 112 AORs in the Patna high court who got their registration numbers after passing examinations held in the last ten years,” she said, adding they need to write papers in just one hour, which is very tough.