Summary of Advocates Act, 1961

Introduction

What if your lawyer ditch you in the middle of the suit ? What if your lawyers conduct is unprofessional and uncalled for? What are your remedies ?

Ok, who can post nameplate with "Adv" title ? Who can actually plead on behalf of you ?

Advocates Act, 1961 answers above questions. Apart from this, it regulates the affair of Legal Profession, law colleges, syllabus of law colleges. It also provides for disciplinary action when advocate conduct himself unprofessionally.

Bar Council of India

 Section 5 of the act have provision related to Bar Council of India. It states the it will be body corporate having perpetual succession.

Members will be selected from legal fraternity. Attorney General of India and the Solicitor General of India are the ex-officio members of the Bar Council of India. It will also have one elected members of each state bar council. We will see about State Bar Council shortly.

Functions of Bar Council of India

Bar Council is conferred with lot and lot of functions, below are it's function

  1. To lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates
  2. To lay down the procedure to be followed by it's disciplinary committee and the disciplinary committee of each state bar council
  3. To safeguards the rights, privilege and interest of advocates.
  4. To promote and support law reforms.
  5. To deal with any matter under this act, which will be referred to this council
  6. To exercise general supervision and control over State bar council
  7. To promote legal education. They consult with universities for syllabus.
  8. It also give recognition to universities for law degrees, which will be minimum qualification for enrollment as an advocate
  9. To conduct seminars, talks , discussion and debates on legal matters. (Should homosexuality be a crime ?))
  10. To organize legal aid to the poor
  11. To recognize on reciprocal basis about foreign qualification in law obtained outside India for the purpose of admission as an advocate under this act.
  12. To conduct election in fair manner.
Apart from above things, it can constitute one or more funds for below purpose
  • Giving financial assistance to organize welfare schemes for indigent, disabled or other advocates.
  • Giving legal aid and advise in accordance with the rules
  • Establishing law libraries 

 State Bar Council

Apart from Bar Council at national level, Advocates Act provided for Constitution of Bar Council at state level also.

State Bar council too would be body corporate having perpetual succession. The Advocate General of State would be ex-officio member of these council. Apart from that there would around 15-25 elected advocates from enrolled advocates. They have power to elect chairman among themselves.

Functions of State Bar Council

Below will be the some of the function of state bar council
  1. To admit person as advocate on it's roll
  2. To prepare and maintain such roll.
  3. To entertain and determine cases of misconduct against advocates on its roll
  4. To safeguard the rights, privilege and interest of advocates on it's roll.
  5. To promote and support law reforms.
  6. To conduct seminar, discussion, debates on legal problems 
  7. To organize legal aids to the poor.
  8. To provide for the election of its members.
Apart from above function, it can constitute funds for below purpose
  • Giving financial assistance to indigent, disabled or other advocates.
  • Giving legal aid to poor.
  • Establishing law libraries 

Disciplinary Committees

Section 9 of the acts provide for the disciplinary committee. These committees can investigate into professional misconduct by a advocates.

So to answer the question we pose at the beginning, if you observe professional misconduct, disciplinary committee is right place to file a complaint. Even if nobody complained, and committee thinks that advocates on it's roll is guilty of any misconduct, it still can take some action.

Section 35 provides for various punishments.
  • Committee can dismiss the complaint
  • Committee can suspend the lawyer
  • Committee can reprimand the lawyer
  • Committee can remove the name of advocates from roll
However, these decisions are not final and you can file an appeal in Bar Council of India. If you are not satisfied there, then you can go to supreme court against the decision of BCI.

 Conclusion

Advocates Act 1961, regulates the profession of law. It provides for establishment of some institutions such as Bar Council of India and State Bar Council. It also provide a mechanism wherein you can file a complaint against advocates.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Followers

Popular posts from this blog

Privileges and Immunities to Administration in Suits

Introduction You know government can enter into contracts. Government can start some business. It mean government can sue other people, or you can sue the government. Before you initiate a legal proceedings against government, or even after legal proceedings are initiated, there are some relaxations to government.( OK, we will use Government/Administration as per our discretion interchangeably in this post, but they will mean the same ). So, it might happen that to prove something you may need a document or evidence, but government may be given exemption to produce evidence in that regard. Let's take one example.  General law is that burden of proof is on prosecution. Meaning, the one who accuses other  needs to prove the crime/offence by other. But when government accuses you of Sedition, you have to prove your innocence, burden of proof is on YOU. This is scary, as many times government in power just accuses people of sedition who opposes their ideas/policies, and put opponents i
Read more

Legal History-Administration of Justice in Bombay (1668-1726)

Image
Story About Bombay In 1534, Portuguese acquired Bombay from Local Hindu Raja. Then Bombay was given to King Charles II as dowry in his sister's marriage to in 1661. In 1668 Bombay was given to rent to East India Company for a rent of 10  £ . By today's exchange it would be around 100 Rs. So  yes, Bombay was given on rent to East India Company for the price of 10 Vada-Pav. Administration of Bombay was subordinate to Surat back then. After renting it, company issued a charter in 1668 granting company some rights to make laws to deal with Bombay. Like Administration in Madras, development of Earlier administration could be studied in 3 stages. First Stage: 1670-1683 (Aungier Eara) During this period Bombay was subordinated to Surat. The Governor of Surat was ex-officio Governor of Bombay, though Bombay had Deputy Governor and Council. Gerald Aungier brought some changes in Administration of justice. Two plans, i.e plan of 1670 and plan of 1672 made progress in sou
Read more

Civil Procedure Code - Summoning and attendance of Witness (Order 16)

Image
There are tons of stages after plaint/WS is submitted and final judgment is given. Below are certain stages. In this blog We will deal with Order 16 i.e Summoning and attendance of witness. Order 16 have 21 rules. These rules mainly deals with How to summon the witness ? Who can summon the witness ? What if witness do not appear after summons ? How Summons are to be served ? Who will bear the cost when witness appears? All in all, it deals with below things: Now party can give a list of witness to court to be summoned or court can sometime on it's own accord order the attendance of witness or production of documents from Witness as per Rule 14 of Order 21. General Procedure When Court summon on the request of parties, procedure is something like First party will submit the list of witness to court withing 15 days of settlement of issues. Court will issue summons based on list. Witness can attend without summons also as per Rule 1A Court issues the
Read more