By Justice Markandey Katju
Former Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerji has donned a lawyer's attire and appeared before the Supreme Court and High Court to argue cases in court.
Many people have questioned the legality of Mamata's appearance in law courts as a lawyer.
Mamata claims she has a law degree. But having a law degree does not by itself entitle one to practise in a law court. One must also be registered with the Bar Council of the state.
If after getting registered with the bar council, one decides not to practise, or having practiced for some time, one decides not to practise any further, for any reason ( e.g. one has decided to pursue another profession ), one has to inform the bar council in writing about it, and then one's registration stands suspended/cancelled, and one cannot practice any more.
However, if thereafter one wishes to resume law practice, one can again write to the state bar council informing it of one's intention to resume law practice
Now in the case of Mamata Banerjee, certain questions arise :
(1) Does Mamata have a genuine law degree? This question arises because in the 1980s, Mamata claimed to have a doctorate from a US University called the University of East Georgia, and insisted that people refer to her as Dr. Mamata Banerjee, claiming a PhD from that University for a thesis titled "The Impact of Mughal Harem on state and policies". Reports later revealed that the so-called University of East George was a bogus, non-existent institution. After this came to light, Mamata stopped prefixing her name with the ‘Dr’ title.
So if a person can commit such a brazen fraud, it certainly needs to be investigated whether she has a genuine L.L.B. degree.
(2) Even if Mamata has a genuine law degree, she either did not practise, or having practised for a short while, gave it up, and took to full-time politics.
Now, after her defeat in the 2026 West Bengal elections, when she decided to resume law practice, did she inform the state bar council of her decision in writing, as it was incumbent on her to do ?
(3) Rule 28 of the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice ( Verification ) Rules, 2015 ( notified in the Gazette of India on 13.1.2015 ) lays down the procedure which a person must follow to resume law practice. Did Mamata follow it? I have grave doubts that she did.
That rule states that if a person wants to resume law practice (1) an application for renewal of practice must be made to the state bar council in Form C with Rs 20,000 resumption fee and a declaration as prescribed (2) The application must be supported with a cerificate in Column III of Form A issued by the President/Secretary of the concerned Bar Association (3) The state bar council shall refer the application to the Administrative Committee, which shall allow it only if it is satisfied that the applicant genuinely wants to resume law practice (4) If the application is allowed, the name of the applicant shall be taken out of the list of 'non practising advocates', which shall be notified as provided in Rule 20.3
Has Mamata made any such application? Has it been referred to the Administrative Committee, and if so, what decision has the Committee taken ?
It is evident that Mamata has no intention of resuming law practice, and she went to the Calcutta High Court only to do drama for publicity and remaining in the limelight.
https://www.hastakshepnews.com/2026/05/mamatas-dramabazi.html
She will continue doing full-time politics. So how can it be said that she genuinely wants to practice law? The central and state bar councils must investigate the matter thoroughly and take appropriate action against her.
(Justice Katju is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a former Chairman of the Press Council of India. These are his personal views.)
