Supreme Court to law panel: Examine act for lawyers’ conduct

Expressing serious concern over the deviant conduct and behaviour of lawyers across the country, the Supreme Court has asked the Law Commission to revisit the Advocates Act and analyse the provisions dealing with regulatory mechanism for the legal profession.

A three-judge Bench, comprising Justices Anil R. Dave, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Goel, said the legal profession, being the most important component of justice delivery system, the Bar Council of India and state bar councils, must continue to perform their significant role and regulatory mechanism and should not be seen to be wanting in taking prompt action against any malpractice.

The bench has requested the Law Commission of India to go into all relevant aspects relating to regulation of legal profession in consultation with all concerned at an early date. “We hope the government of India will consider taking further appropriate steps in the light of report of the commission within six months thereafter,” the bench said.

Giving this direction, the bench upheld the conviction of UP-based lawyer Mahipal Singh Rana for contempt of court after he had threatened a judge. It said there is no absolute right of an advocate to appear in the court. Appearance before the court is subject to such conditions as are laid down by this court or the high court. An advocate could be debarred from appearing before the Court even if the disciplinary jurisdiction for misconduct was vested with the Bar Council of India or the Bar Council of the State concerned.

The Bench said the court not only has a right but also an obligation to protect itself and save the purity of its proceedings from being polluted, by barring the advocate concerned from appearing before the courts for an appropriate period of time. Pointing out about the decline of ethical and professional standards of the Bar, the Bench said there was a need to arrest such trend in the interests of administration of justice. This direction will have a bearing on the lawyers agitating in Tamil Nadu over the implementation of rules to regulate their conduct.

But no action appears to have been taken either by the BCI or the State Bar Councils. The result is that a person convicted of even a most heinous offence is eligible to be enrolled as an advocate after expiry of two years from expiry of his sentence. This aspect needs urgent attention of all concerned. The Bench while considering his age, set aside the two months imprisonment. It upheld the direction of the Allahabad high court that appellant shall not be permitted to appear in courts in District Etah until he purges himself of contempt.

The Bench also said that under Section 24A of the Advocates Act, the enrollment of the appellant will stand suspended for two years from the date of this order. As a disciplinary measure for proved misconduct, the licence of the appellant will remain suspended for further five years.