GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 4649

PURSUANT to section 53 (9) of the Advocates Act and Rule 12 (1) of the Advocates (Complaints Commission) Rules, 1991, it is notified for general information that from the 1st April, 2020 to 30th June, 2020, the Commission received a total of seventy seven (77) new complaints and submitted them for enquiry under the Preliminary Enquiry initiative. The current status of the above new complaints is as shown below: S/No. Status No. of Complaints 1 Rejected for lack of substance 3 2 Classified 0 3 Undergoing Preliminary Enquiry and therefore carried over to the next quarter The total number of complaints carried over to the period under review (that is 1st April, 2020 to 30th June, 2020) from previous quarters are four thousand three hundred and seventeen (4317). During the period under review, the Commission classified a total of twenty one (21) complaints. The nature of these classified complaints is as shown below: S/No. Nature of Complaints No. of Complaints 1 Failure to render professional services 11 2 Withholding funds 5 3 Failure to account 5 TOTAL 21 Complaints filed against advocates or firms of advocates were disposed of in the following manner during the period under review— (a) Preliminary Enquiry (PE) Complaints: The total number of complaints closed under the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) initiative were thirty one (31). (b) Classified Complaints: The total number of complaints finalized were seven (7) whose details are as follows: 2812 2812 S/No. Action No. of Complaints 1 Referred to court 1 2 Rejected 1 3 Settled 4 4 No misconduct proved 1 TOTAL 7 Pursuant to section 53(4) and in the spirit of section 53 (5) of the Advocates Act, fourteen (14) complaints were settled amicably at the Advocates’ Complaints Commission. The matters referred to the Disciplinary Committee during the same period for further action and per section 60(1) of the Advocates Act were forty three (43). During the period under review, two (2) complaints pending at the Disciplinary Committee were disposed of as follows: - S/No. Action No. of Complaints 1 Advocates acquitted 2 TOTAL 2 In summary: S/No. Description No. of Complaints 1 Complaints brought forward to the period the 1st April, 2020 to 30th June, 2020 from previous quarters 2 Complaints received between the 1st April, 2020 and 30th June, 2020 Total Complaints for the period under review 4394 3 Files disposed of during the period under review Total Pending Complaints as at 30th June, 2020 4354 Dated the 1st July, 2020. CAROLINE SARONI, Chairperson, Advocates Complaints Commission.