Unauthorised Practice of Law

i agree with u sir, now a days chartered accountant publishing on behalf of client in property matter in mumbai

The absence of any bar from drafting the documents as stated by you by the other professioanl does not degrade our position rather uplifts us as the lawyers are more looked upon to defend or initate legal actions not for mere drafting certain documents.

You yourselves say that MCA allows CAs to draft and represent in company matters... yet you state that "stop unauthorized practice of law by CA etc".

From your own account, it is lawyers who are unauthorized to do these things!  Why blame CAs?

Till now the CAs and co secrataries have got long rope and so enjoying  unlimited authroity and powers.

Starting from Nashik we are promoting a new parrallal all India body of advocates to restore the status of advocates.

our main objectives are :-

1) every advocated should be authrised to verify affadvits.

2) Every public statement  and balance sheet of listed companies must be signed by an advocate.

The list is long.

 The CA is only accountant , he will balance the enteries. He has no kowledge of law. On the other hand an advocate is a double graduate and completes a regular course in college.

Your coopration welcome to raise this voice so that it is heard not only all over India but all parts of the world so usher in a new era of legal responsibily.

ADVOCATES MUST RAISE THEIR VOICE TO GET THE WORKS  ATTESTED IN::

1. ROC/ CLB/SEBI/ COMPANY AFFAAIRS

2. PASSPORT/IMMIGRATION OFFICES/EXTRANAL AFFAIRS

3.ALL REGISTRAR OFFICES

4.ALL OATH/AFFIDAVIT ATTESTATION WORKS.

I also support, but the problem is that Our BAR LEADERS are neither concern about the status and quality of the lawyers nor they think about doing something for returning lost glory and prestige of the law profession, rather they had made the BAR the politics playground and are working in connivence/nexus with bureaucrats in erroding the powers of the Courts just for petty favours and panels.

Over here also things are going in abnormal manner by completely by passing the Advocates including the empanel lawyer. Its high time that we should take some concrete action to stop all these menace.

sir, i do agree. Bar councils is now the place of politics. Present instance i have faced Mr. Rajjak khan a member of D.C. of B.C. OF U.P. suspended an advocate from practice for five years under ptessure of Congress politician , ignoring the law and facts. No opportunity to lead evidence, to cross examine the deponents who placed their affidavits, specially when the complaint on the grounnds of which produced has been dismissed by the competent court to get some benifite or empanelment . It's a black day and unfortunate who believe in law and courts. We must ban these persons and Bar Council of India must take action against such members. But the advocates must be given more  rights as per our elder  brother's suggestions, writen above. 

Hi Firiends,

I believe that every professional should take a broader view of the situation on a wholistic context.  A professional is one who does right things in the area of his expertise, keeping aside his/her self interests. One has to contribute to the uplifting of one's profession.  Practice of Law is  a noble profession.  A little of introspection is enough to throw light how well law is administered as a profession in our country.  The courts are full of backlog cases that will take decades to clear.  I believe that Law professionals have enough amount of work there to clear the backlog of cases.  Many times we see lawyers draining the clients by not represnting cases properly.  Drafting documents are not so major cause taken up by others when compared to the noble profession of administration of justice. As you all agree " Justicve delayed is justice denied".   The law fraternity can do a great service to the population of this country.  Let us not belittle this noble profession by narrow thiking.

I agree that there are backlog cases in the courts, but these are not due to doings of advocates.  The vacancies in courts and number of courts for handling these case are not filled in to match the number of pending case.  The Corporate Law is an upcoming avenue to young generation and our broader look will kill the opportunities to budding advocates and unskilled and without formal education personnel will handle these matter. leading to inferior legal services in the international markets.  These practices are not limited to the drafting but involve representation, registration and followup of matters before the quasi judicial authorities which should be handled by competent law graduate and not accountants. 

True & correct. Govt. including bureaucracy and common people always talk about backlogs in the Courts but they I do not understand why they are so ignorant or they try to hide the fact that the the Govt. and its various departments and corporations are the biggest litigant in our country and the maxinim no. of cases which are pending in courts involve the Govt. and its departments as one of the party to the cases and still the Govt. is not ready to take some positive steps to increase the no. of courts to tackle the problem of backlogs and get itself rid of pending cases and the advocates are hence not responsible for that. But, Govt. is creating the quasi judicial forums  just in order to interfere the Courts system of dispensation of justice and increasing the power of bureaucracy in india and to protect itself from many adverse Orders of the courts. And, as predominantely the work of a lawyer is attached with courts and conveyancing, the bifurcation and dilution of courts power is impacting the lawyers the most and therefore untill and unless there would be certain provisions in various economic and corporate enactments which provide special exclusive powers to Lawyers as C.A.s & C.S.s enjoy in Direct and Indirect Tax laws and Corporate Laws it would remain a hill task for Lawyers to sustain, survive and have a dignified professional life. People at large has to understand that the Lawyer is the only professional who knows the practical implications of law and eventualities in agreements and contracts, the clauses to incorporate in deeds and documents and he the one who can do maximun efforts in future risk aversion in social and corporate world.

A good news to all! Atleast someone is there to bell the cat!  Our long-standing demand will now get fulfilled.  (Atleast now we woke-up).  

Similary, there must be some restraint to control the nuisances of the 'document writers', too. This profession (like trademark offices) is totally under the proxy control of the retired/serving officials of the Registration Department, which is the base root for high-level corruption and malpractices in registration works.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has sought time to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) in Delhi High Court, which alleges that the Registrar of Companies (ROC) discriminates against lawyers by only allowing chartered accounts, company secretaries or cost accountants to certify electronic submissions to the corporate registrar.

The petitioner Legum and Law Awareness Society has challenged the restriction imposed on advocates who are practicing in the field of corporate law, which was heard yesterday.

According to the petition, till 2006 Registrar of Companies (ROC) was accepting the incorporation documents and other information from companies in physical or manual forms.

In that environment lawyers were serving corporate clients on their own, similar to professionals such as chartered accountants and company secretaries. But since the introduction of e-governance in the ROC, all physical forms have been replaced with electronically submitted e-forms, requiring certification by at least one chartered accountant, cost accountant or company secretary.

Since 2006 therefore, advocates were not permitted to certify e-forms and had to retain other professionals to get every form certified before submitting it to the ROC, argued the petition, adding that the Ministry has alienated the advocates from the definition of practicing professionals.

The petioner’s advocate Sandeep Sharma contended in court: “The word corporate lawyer is just an illusion, we can’t even file a small document with the Registrar of Companies. When I had written to them about this anomaly, the ROC responded by saying that the Ministry’s guidelines were responsible for this and I should get in touch with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.”

In approaching the Delhi High Court, the Petitioner now argues that the use of technology should be for the upliftment and betterment of all the professions and not just for selected ones.

The bench of acting Chief Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Mukta Gupta had earlier sought responses from the MCA in this regard.

The petition noted that section 33 of The Companies Act 1956 was the main provision governing the incorporation of companies, which clearly empowered an advocate to make a declaration that all the requirements of the Act and the rules thereunder were complied with in respect of the registration of a company and matters precedent and incidental thereto.

This section further provides that the Registrar may accept such a declaration as sufficient evidence of such compliance. It is pertinent to mention that this section does not empower the registrar to call for any certificate from any professional to certify the declaration made by an Advocate.

Luthra and Jaggi partner Navin Raheja commented: “It’s a clear case of discrimination against the Advocates. The Bar Council of India must intervene in the matter to protect the interests of millions of lawyers in the country.”

Further commenting, Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) president Lalit Bhasin said: “If the lawyers are allowed to certify the documents, it will instill a confidence in the minds of clients. The Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries are entering in the territory of law practice, it should be discouraged. “

When asked about if he would represent the lawyers’ interest in the matter Bhasin said that SILF had not yet been approached, but if the petitioner needed any help the body would be ready to assist in court.

The PIL prayed to the court to direct the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to include advocates in the list of practicing professionals, enabling them to issue various certificates integrated into e-forms, notified under the Companies Act 1956 and Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008.

i am practising in bhopal .mp. will you pl email-sudhirtelangadvocate, details of your forum email etc for information and to circulate amongst advocates