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Keeping in tune with the weather, the heat on practice of law
by foreign advocates in India has just been turned up. Petitioner A. K. Balaji,
a practising advocate of Tamil Nadu (‘Petitioner’), has filed a writ petition in
High Court of Madras (‘High Court’) alleging non-action on part of various
government bodies. The petitioner has claimed that numerous foreign law firms
are allegedly violating provisions of Indian Advocates Act, 1961 (‘Advocates
Act’) by providing legal services in India.
The petitioner has filed a writ petition against Bar Council
of India, Government of India, a business-process outsourcing firm and several
well-known foreign law firms (‘Respondents’) alleging violation of the Advocates
Act, Immigration laws and the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The petitioner has claimed that the interpretation of the
Advocates Act is to allow only an ‘Advocate’ registered under the Advocates Act
to practise law anywhere in India. As such the Advocates Act allows a foreign
citizen to practise law in India only if the person possesses necessary
educational qualification and the country of citizenship allows Indian citizens
to practise law in their country on a reciprocal basis. In absence of a
reciprocal arrangement, Indians are not allowed to practise law in most
jurisdictions without taking further set of educational courses and other tests,
such as QLTT in case of UK or the state bar examination in case of the US. No
such requirement of taking a qualifying examination or programme, apart from a
qualifying legal education, is necessary for enrolling as an ‘Advocate’ under
the Advocates Act.
The petitioner has made various government bodies such as
Income-tax Department, Ministries of Finance and Law, and other immigration
offices responsible for not taking cognizance of the alleged violation of
various laws by the respondents. The petitioner claims to have made a
representation in the past to these agencies, and due to lack of responsiveness,
has filed a writ petition with the High Court under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India against the government and its agencies to take
further action in this respect.
(Source : nda@ndalaw.com, dated 23-3-2010)
