February 17,2018:

On Friday, Supreme Court sought assistance of the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal on a plea seeking a ban on members of Parliament and legislative assemblies practising as advocates.

Petition has been filed by Advocate and BJP Spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who alleges that MPs/MLAs practising as Advocates pose a “conflict of interest” under the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar Council of India Rules.

The various legislators who practise across various courts in the country are like Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, KTS Tulsi, P. Chidambaram, Pinaki Misra, Meenakshi Lekhi, and K. Parasaran.

Petitioner has sought a bar on the legislators practising as Advocates for the period that they are occupying such positions. In the alternative, Court may hold provision in Bar Council of India Rules, laying down rules on standards of the professional conduct and etiquette.

The Petition states that, Dual role would also amount to the professional misconduct when MPs and MLAs, who get salary and other benefits from public funds appear against the government as lawyers.

Picture Source :