New Delhi, June 19 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that a digital database for lawyers in the country with a parallel link to verify their law degrees could be an "innovative" idea to weed out lawyers with fake degrees. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, "In the age of technology this appears to be an innovative idea which can be done," after the suggestion was put forth in a petition filed by the Bar Association of India (BAI). Issuing notice to the Centre, Bar Council of India (BCI), University Grants Commission (UGC) and all state bar councils, the bench, also comprising justice V Mohana, said, "For any coordinated effort, all the law universities will have to be impleaded, compelling them to disclose all bonafide law graduates of the university." Advocate Prashant Kumar, who is the president of BAI, stated that the petition sought a timebound National Digital Registry for the Legal Profession of India (NDRLP) containing a Unique National Advocate Identifier, real-time enrolment status, verified qualifications, disciplinary record, and a QR-verifiable public profile accessible to any litigant on a mobile phone in seconds. Kumar, assisted by advocate Vipin Nair, said that the idea is to integrate verifiable data about a lawyer on a common platform where the verified law degree can also be linked with the help of UGC. "We will submit a mechanism and submit a policy paper by next date and can even include the All India Council of Technical Educations as even IITs are providing law degrees," he said. India has approximately 1.8 million enrolled advocates and section 30 of the Advocates Act allows a lawyer to practice throughout the country. BAI said. "There is no single, publicly verifiable, real-time national record of who among them is genuinely enrolled, holds verified qualifications, and is in good standing." Kumar referred to BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra's recent shocking remarks that approximately 35-40% of lawyers practising before courts may be fake....