These terms apply to every advocate who asks to join or is a member of a Mara Vakil court group. Please read them before you join. By ticking the box on the join form you accept them.
1. What a court group is
A court group is a free online group run by Mara Vakil for advocates who practise at a particular court complex, for example the Rohini Courts or the Delhi High Court. The group is used to share notices from the Mara Vakil team and to show members who else from the same court is on Mara Vakil.
A court group is not a bar association. Mara Vakil court groups are not run by, connected with or approved by any Bar Association, Bar Council, court or court administration. Joining a court group does not make you a member of any bar association and does not change any membership, voting or other right you have there. Membership of a bar association is only through that association under its own rules.
2. Who can join
- Advocates enrolled with a State Bar Council and entitled to practise in India.
- You must have a Mara Vakil advocate profile that our team has approved, and you must log in with the login ID and password given by the Mara Vakil admin.
- One account per advocate, in your own name. You may join the group of each court where you regularly practise.
3. How joining works
- You send a join request from the Court Groups page. Our admin checks your profile and may ask you to confirm that you practise at that court.
- The admin approves or rejects the request. If a request is rejected or a member is removed, the reason is recorded and shown to you.
- We keep a record of every request, approval, rejection, removal, the date and time, and the consent you gave on the join form. This record shows who joined, when, and on what basis.
4. Fees
Joining a court group is free. Mara Vakil does not collect any fee for court groups. If a paid feature is ever added, we will tell members in advance and ask for separate consent before charging anything.
5. What members get
- Notices from the Mara Vakil team, for example platform updates and court-related information such as holiday lists or changes in court timings published by the court.
- A list of the other members of the group, showing only their name and city.
- Notices appear in the group, in the bell on Mara Vakil, and as a sound and pop-up while the website is open in your browser. We do not send SMS or WhatsApp marketing for court groups. You can turn off browser pop-ups at any time in your browser settings.
6. Code of conduct
- Behave professionally and respectfully towards other members, clients, judges and court staff.
- Do not use a court group to advertise or to ask for work, directly or indirectly. Advocates may not advertise or solicit work under Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules.
- Do not share confidential client information. Communications between an advocate and a client are protected under Section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (earlier Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872).
- Do not post anything unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or that harms the dignity of the court. Do not use the group to organise boycotts or strikes; the Supreme Court has held that advocates do not have a right to strike (Ex-Capt. Harish Uppal v. Union of India, 2003).
- Do not copy or sell the member list or use members' details for any other purpose.
7. Removal
The admin may remove a member who breaks these terms, whose Mara Vakil advocate profile is suspended or removed, or whose enrolment cannot be confirmed. The reason is recorded. If you think a removal is wrong, you can raise it under our Grievance Redressal process.
8. Leaving and deleting your data
- You can leave a group at any time with the "Leave this group" button. Your consent to receive that group's notices ends at once.
- You can delete all your court group records (requests, memberships and consent records) with the "Delete all my group data" button on the Court Groups page, or by writing to help@maravakil.in. Deleting your group data does not delete your advocate profile.
- Records of members who have left or whose request was rejected are deleted automatically one year after the last change, unless the law requires us to keep them longer (for example while a complaint is being handled).
9. Your personal data
How we use your details for court groups, and your rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, are explained in the Privacy Policy.
10. Responsibility
Notices in court groups are for information. Always confirm dates, timings and orders from the official court website, the cause list or the court registry before you act. Mara Vakil is a technology platform, not a law firm, and is not responsible for what members do outside the platform.
11. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. We will show the new date at the top of this page and tell members in the group. If a change affects how we use your data, we will ask for your consent again.
Mara Vakil is a technology platform, not a law firm. This page is not legal advice. Questions: help@maravakil.in.