Advocates Amendment Bill 'Poorly Drafted', Fails To Address Pertinent Issues: Congress

<p><strong>New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI):</strong> With the government planning to amend the Advocates Act, the Congress on Thursday said the proposed Bill is not only "poorly drafted" but it also fails to address pertinent issues faced by the legal fraternity.</p> <p>The opposition party urged the central government to put the amendments on hold till such time a nationwide consultation process is conducted and inputs from relevant stakeholders are sought on the very law that will govern their profession and livelihood.</p> <p>The government plans to amend the Advocates Act, 1961 by making sweeping changes in the definitions of what a legal practitioner and a law graduate mean.</p> <p>According to the draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2025, a law graduate means a person who has obtained a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in law of three or five years or such other duration as prescribed, by any centre of legal education or university established by law or a college affiliated to any university and recognised by the Bar Council of India.</p> <p>In a statement, the AICC Law, Human Rights and RTI Department unequivocally expressed solidarity with protesting lawyers opposing the latest amendments to the Advocates Act, 1961.</p> <p>Chairman of the department Abhishek Singhvi said there are three primary concerns which the party intends to flag in the proposed Bill.</p> <p>"Firstly, the proposed Bill amending the Advocates Act is not only a poorly drafted legislation, but it also fails to address pertinent issues faced by the legal fraternity," the senior Congress leader said.</p> <p>"To illustrate, instead of creating a proper forum to allow lawyers to raise their grievances and issues, the proposed Bill takes away lawyers' rights to raise legitimate demands by way of a boycott or abstinence from work with the imposition of penal consequences," he said.</p> <p>Singhvi said legislative restriction or interdiction of strike or work cessation by lawyers would be justifiable only if counterbalanced by the creation of a comprehensive, efficacious meaningful and real grievance redressal alternative mechanism having teeth for remedial solutions.</p> <p>"The proposed Bill allows for excessive government interference into the composition, practice and procedure of professional regulatory bodies, thereby deviating from the principle of self-autonomy and self-independence as upheld by the Supreme Court of India," Singhvi, who is also a senior advocate, said in the statement.</p> <p>"Secondly, the haste with which the government has attempted to pass the proposed Bill without proper consultation evidences the end objective of the legislation i.e., to increase control of the central government over the professional body.</p> <p>"Thirdly, the pre-legislative consultation policy of 2014 requires a legislation (particularly one which impacts a specific group of stakeholders) to be documented and disclosed in the public domain prior to its enactment," Singhvi said.</p> <p>A law amending the Advocates Act which entails far reaching consequences for the legal fraternity ought not to be passed without a consultative exercise with the relevant stakeholders, the senior Congress leader said.</p> <p>"In view of the far-reaching consequences that entail with the proposed amendment Bill, we strongly urge the Central Government to put the amendment on hold till such time a nationwide consultation process (in line with Pre-Legislative Nationwide Consultation Policy of 2014) is conducted and inputs from relevant stakeholders are sought on the very law that shall govern their profession and livelihood," Singhvi said.</p> <p>In the present law, a law graduate means a person who has obtained a bachelor&rsquo;s degree in law from any university established by law in India.</p> <p>The draft bill defines a legal practitioner as any advocate or law graduate engaged in the practice of law before courts, tribunals or quasi-judicial forums or doing legal work in any private or public organisation including but not limited to statutory and autonomous bodies, domestic and foreign law firms and corporate entities.</p> <p>As of now, a legal practitioner means an advocate or 'vakil' of any high court, a pleader, 'mukhtar' or revenue agent.</p> <p>According to the law ministry, these amendments aim to align the legal profession and legal education with global best practices.</p> <p>The reforms will focus on improving legal education, equipping lawyers to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world, and raising professional standards, the ministry has said.</p> <p>The ministry has sought the views of people on the draft Bill.&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>

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