GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 1389

PURSUANT to section 53 (9) of the Advocates Act and Rule 12 (I) of the Advocates (Complaints Commission) Rules, 1991, it is notified for general information that from the 1st October, 2019 to the 31st December, 2019, the Commission received a total of two hundred and thirty two (232) 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 7 2 Classified 2 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 the 1st October, 2019 to 31st December, 2019) from previous quarters are four thousand five hundred and twenty-nine (4529). During the period under review, a total of thirty-eight (38) complaints were classified and files opened. The nature of new complaints classified is as shown below: - SINo . Nature of Complaints No. of Complaints 1 Failure to render professional services 2 Withholding funds 26 3 Issuing dishonoured cheque 2 4 Overcharging 1 5 Compromising client's matter without consent TOTAL 38 Complaints filed against advocates/firms of advocates were disposed of in the following manner during the period under review: - (a) Preliminary Enquiry (PE) Complaints: Total number of complaints closed under the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) initiative were three hundred and eighteen (318). (b) Classified Complaints: Total number of complaints finalized were thirty-four (34) whose details are as follows: S/No. Action No. of Complaints 1 Abandoned 13 2 Settled 7 3 Rejected 1 4 No misconduct proved 12 5 Withdrawn 1 TOTAL 34 Pursuant to section 53 (4) and n the spirit of section 53 (5) of the Advocates Act, thirty (30) complaints were settled amicably at the Advocates' Complaints Commission. The matters referred to the Disciplinary Tribunal (DT) during the same period for further action and in accordance with section 60(1) of the Advocates Act were nil (0). During the period under review, twenty-four (24) complaints pending at the Disciplinary Tribunal were disposed of as follows— S/No. Action No. of Complaints 1 • Advocates suspended 7 2 Settled (matters resolved) 14 3 Withdrawn 1 4 Advocate struck off 1 5 Dismissed 1 TOTAL 24 In summary: S/No. Description No. of Complaints 1 Complaints brought forward to the period the 1st October, 2019 to 31st December, 2019, from previous quarters 2 Complaints received between 1st October, 2019 and 31st December, 2019 Total complaints for the period under review 4761 3 Files disposed of during the period under review Total pending complaints as at the 31st Decejnber, 2019 Dated the 24th January, 2020. CAROLINE SARONI, Chairperson, Advocates Complaints Commission.