SC seeks BCI's response on a plea to debar legislators from practising as lawyers

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a plea for ban on lawmakers from practising as advocates.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to apex regulatory body BCI on the plea which alleged that parliamentarians and legislators, practising as lawyers, posed a "conflict of interest" and violated the provisions of the Advocates Act and the Bar Council of India Rules.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, sought dismissal of the PIL filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay on the basis of a previous judgement.

The court, however, disagreed to the plea of the top law officer of the country and preferred to examine the matter. It posted the matter for further hearing on April 23.

The petitioner contended that while a public servant cannot practise as an advocate, legislators are practising in various courts which was a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. MPs like Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram, Abhishek M Singhvi, Meenakshi Lekhi, Kalyan Banerjee and Sanjiv Kumar continued to practise as advocates.