The Centre came out with a
proposed legislation to create a super regulatory body to oversee the ethics and
conduct of more than one million advocates and legal professionals as well
supervise the legal education system.
Given the flexing of muscle
by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the recent past by being the sole
regulatory body for advocates, the ministry’s move is seen by experts as one
that would clip the wings of BCI.
Importantly, the proposed
law Legal Practitioners (Regulations and Maintenance of Standards in
Professions, Protecting the Interest of Clients and Promoting the Rule of Law)
Act, 2010 aims to control the conduct of legal professionals solicitors not
appearing in courts, those appearing in tribunals or even representing clients
in departmental inquiries who had not been within the ambit of the regulatory
mechanism of BCI.
It aims to protect clients
from harassment at the hands of those legal professionals who are not covered
under the Advocates Act, 1961, having not been registered by the concerned State
Bar Councils. The ministry has sought comments on the proposed law from the
public and the legal fraternity.
In addition, the Legal
Services Board (LSB), proposed to be set up under the Act in line with the one
functioning in the UK, would establish and maintain a panel of persons to be
known as consumer panel to represent the interests of consumers and clients of
the legal professionals. This move is meant to check exploitation of litigants
and clients by legal professionals, including advocates. The consumer panel
shall have a fair degree of representation of both the consumers/clients of the
legal professionals and those who are using or may be contemplating using the
services of the legal professionals as consumers/clients, the proposed law
mentioned.
