Is an Advocate Responsible for False Statements in an Affidavit They Attest? Supreme Court Says No

The Supreme Court has unequivocally ruled that an advocate who merely attests to or identifies a deponent in an affidavit does not become responsible for the truthfulness of the statements contained within it. The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta held that such an act does not make the advocate a party to the affidavit’s contents.

The Court made this crucial observation while dismissing a Special Leave Petition filed by a litigant and the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG). It termed the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the advocate in question as a “manifestly a case of malicious prosecution… at the behest of the opponent litigant” and imposed costs of ₹50,000 each on the complainant and the BCMG.

Background of the Case

The ruling came in a case