Rajesh Thakker (Advocate) 25 April 2008

Advocate vs CA - Right of practice

Dear all senior advocates,

C.A. is entitle to apeear on behalf of the assessee to represnt the assessee's case before the Income tax authorities according to sec. 288 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Now, The National Tribunal set for the Direct/Indirect taxes matter. The National Tribunal's status is equilant to Hon'ble Supreme Court.

C.A. is entitle to appear before the Hon'ble National Tribunal.

There was only the remedy to solve the Direct/Indirect taxess' issue to take the matter before the Hon'ble Supreme Court before the set up of the National Tribunal.

I would like to draw your kind attention towards sec. 29 of the Advocate Act, 1961. Same is reproduce here.

Sec. 29

Advocates to be the only recognized class of persons entitled to practice law.

Now, my question is as under:

Whether C.A./Cost Accountant is entitle to practice before the Income-tax Authorities/Tribunal/National Tribunal ?

Is it not a back door entry of other professional to enblaing them to practice of law?

If yes, What about sec. 29 of the Advocate Act, 1961 ?

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13 Replies

Guest (n/a) 25 April 2008

CA's being in accounting profession remains well conversant with the law of incometax and other tax laws, so they should be allowed to represent the assessees case before various tax authorities as they are doing now.

Guest (n/a) 25 April 2008

Good start! Keep going! It's an interesting debate.

Guest (n/a) 25 April 2008

CA's are authorised to appear before IT proceedings by virtue of provisons of Sec. 159 of IT Act. Specific inculsion in the act overrise provisons of other laws. National Tribunal is quassi legal entity and not Court.

Rajesh Thakker (Advocate) 25 April 2008

Dear Atul, Sec. 159 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 dealt with legal representative of deceased assessee. CA professional class is not cover by the said sec. As regarding quassi judicial machinary not a diffrent from the judicial authority. Question is right of representation by specific Act. Can an advocate certified the account? No, because right of audit work is given to CA only. Same way right to advocacy given by Act only to an advocate.

Kiran Kumar (Lawyer) 26 April 2008

CAs do have good accounting skills and there presence before the IT officials might be helpful while dealing with the calculation aspects but they may not be competent enough to deal with the interpretation aspects of the law so what i think there must be some restriction upon CAs in this respect.

Rajesh Kumar (Advocate) 26 April 2008

The debate is intresting- let us see the legal provision. In a court of law any person can appear to represent a case. The litigant can himself appear, he can authorise any person to appear on his behalf with the leave of court (Section 32 of the Advocates Act). I am not aware of any instance where leave of the court was denied on this issue. As a right, no person has any right to appear on behalf of others. Section 30 in the Advocates Act was there to give this priviledge to lawyers which was not brought in force till date and not likely to be brought in force. Lawyers are specifically discouraged in certain places like family court, in departmental proceeding, before Information Commission etc. As a rule, a court or tribunal can allow any person to represent the litigant; various acts have given this priviledge to various professionals like CA, CS, Cost Accountant, MBA etc. There is nothing wrong in it. It is right of any litigant to choose a person who will represent him before a court or tribunal or any authority. Such right should not be denied lightly. The argument on the basis of knowledge of CA is fallacious- for there may be many knowledgeable persons even without a degree. Thus can we allow a person to do cost audit if he is not a qualified cost accountant merely because he has knowledge? Such demand is raised by various professionals bodies to maintain "monopoly" in their field, which is not good either for the professions or efficiency or for consumers.

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K.Prakash Babu (Advocate) 30 April 2008

Competition will sharpen the skills. As advocates we have to equip ourselves with the innovative skills and interpretaional traits. Competition should be encouraged with good ethical values. I for the one to accept the competition and uphold our presence.

Rajesh Kumar (Advocate) 15 May 2008

Recently a Supreme Court judgment stated that only CA can audit the sales tax return of the assessee. The logic given was that audit is a specialised work and only specialists can do it- what about law and presentation os cases before judicial or quasi judicial authority. Is is not specialised. Why do other professionals are allowed to appear?

Guest (n/a) 23 May 2008

Anyhow there is restriction on CA to appear before the Courts, they can only appear before the tax related authorities. As restrictions on advocates to not to do Audits.I think there are some common fields in which both can practice. with due regard to all.

SANJAY (TAX ADVOCATES) 03 June 2008

BECAUSE OF THE SEC 29 OF THE ADVOCATES IS NOT PASSED BY THE PARLIAMENT FULL FLEDGE THAT IS WHY ANY BODY CAN PLEAD ON BEHALF OF THE ASSESSEE. IT IS NOW HIGH TIME THAT SEC 29 SHOULD BE MADE ACTIVE FULL FLEDGE ACTIVE FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE ADVOCATES

Sunil (Advocate) 04 June 2008

the ministry of company affairs has allowed only CA/CS/Cost Accountants to digitaly sign by excluding the Advocates. None of the Advocate has raised the issue before government.

Guest (n/a) 12 June 2008

RESPECTED SIR,

I M FULLY AGREED WITH U. AS CA, CS ALREADY HAVE POWER LIKE POWER TO AUDIT, PEOPLE WHOSE ACCOUNTS ARE AUDITABLE WILL GO DIRECTLY 2 D C.A. ONLY.. THEY WILL NOT REFER THEIR CASES TO ADVOCATES FOR INTIAL FORMALITIES AS THEY CANNOT GO SEPERATELY TO ADVOCATES OR CA'S FOR INDIVIDUAL MATTERS.. AS AUDIT IS THE SPECIAL SKILL FOR CA'S , THEN ADVOCATE HAVE THEIR SPECIAL SKILL TO APPEAR BEFORE THE COURT AND SOLVE THE VARIOUS CASES.. AS SUCH I M FULLY AGREED WITH U. ITS REALLY A PLEASURE THAT THIS TYPE OF MATTER HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO PICTURE..

THANX

Guest (n/a) 12 June 2008

RESPECTED SIR,

THANX

Advocate vs CA - Right of practice

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