Right to Practice

A friend of yours is a chartered accountant with years of experience in property deals and, one afternoon, he decides he will argue a dispute for a neighbour in a Mumbai civil court. The registry clerk sends him back. A fresh LL.B. graduate who was enrolled last week walks in and is allowed to appear. The constitution promises everyone the right to practise a profession, so why does the law treat these two differently?

In two minutes

The right of an advocate to practise is both a constitutional freedom (Article 19(1)(g)) and a statutory right (s.30, Advocates Act, 1961): every enrolled advocate may practise as of right in all courts and before authorities across India, but only enrolled advocates may do so, and the right is subject to the Act, to High Court rules and to disciplinary control.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Practical Training – I: Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.