CHAPTER V

CONDUCT OF ADVOCATES

DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEES (SECTION 9)

 A Bar Council shall constitute one or more disciplinary committees

 consist of three persons of whom two shall be persons elected by the Council from amongst its
members and the other shall be a person co-opted by the Council from amongst advocates (who
have for at least ten years been advocates on a State roll and who are not members of the
Council)
 senior-most advocate amongst the members of a disciplinary committee shall be the Chairman
thereof.

PUNISHMENT OF ADVOCATES FOR MISCONDUCT. (SECTION 35)

Misconduct-

 not defined
 state of Punjab v. Ram Singh- misconduct may involve moral turpitude, it must be improper or
wrong behaviou, unlawful behavior, willful in character forbidden act, a transgression of
establishemment and definite role of action or code of conduct but not mere error of
judgement, carelessness or negligence in performance of duty. The act complained of bears
forbidden quality or character
 black’s dictionary-
 In re Tulsidass Amanmal Karim
 In matter of P. An Advocate“ Infamous conduct in a professional repect” Has done something
with rehard to it which would be reasonably regarded as disgraceful or dishonourable by his
professional brethren of good repute and competency.”
 Mere negligence accompanied not by any moral deliquencyon part of legal practitioner does not
amount to professional misconduct- kumara vellu v. bar council of india

Procedure

 Where on receipt of a complaint or otherwise a State Bar Council has reason to believe that any
advocate on its roll has been guilty of professional or other misconduct, it shall refer the case for
disposal to its disciplinary committee
 The State Bar Council may, either of its own motion or on application made to it by any person
interested, withdraw a proceeding pending before its disciplinary committee and direct the
inquiry to be made by any other disciplinary committee of that State Bar Council
 disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council shall fix a date for the hearing of the case and shall
cause a notice thereof to be given to the advocate concerned and to the Advocate-General of
the State
  the Advocate-General may appear before the disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council
either in person or through any advocate appearing on his behalf.
 The disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council after giving the advocate concerned and the
Advocate-General an opportunity of being heard
 Orders
o dismiss the complaint or, where the proceedings were initiated at the instance of the
State Bar Council, direct that the proceedings be filed
o reprimand the advocate
o suspend the advocate from practice for such period as it may deem fit. Where an
advocate is suspended from practice he shall, during the period of suspension, be
debarred from practising in any court or before any authority or person in India
o remove the name of the advocate from the State roll of advocates

NOTE (Section 41)

 Where an order is made reprimanding or suspending an advocate, a record of the

punishment shall be entered against his name in the case of an advocate whose name is
entered in a State roll, in that roll
 where any order is made removing an advocate from practice, his name shall be struck off
the State roll
 Where any advocate is suspended or removed from practice, the certificate granted to him
in respect of his enrolment shall be recalled

In Re: An advocate – framing of charges- state bar council must initially frame charges and later on
frame issues arising out of pleadings for sake of fairness and for the sake of bringing into forefront the
real controversy.

Proceedings are quasi- criminal in nature

 The disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council shall dispose of the complaint received by it
expeditiously and in each case the proceedings shall be concluded within a period of one year
from the date of the receipt of the complaint or the date of initiation of the proceedings at the
instance of the State Bar Council
 failing which such proceedings shall stand transferred to the Bar Council of India which may
dispose of the same as if it were a proceeding withdrawn for inquiry

DISCIPLINARY POWERS OF BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA (SECTION 36)

 Where on receipt of a complaint or otherwise theBar Council of India has reason to believe that
any advocate whose name is not entered on any State roll has been guilty of professional or
other is conduct, it shall refer the case for disposal to its disciplinary committee.
  the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India may either of its own motion or on a
report by any State Bar Council or on an application made to it by any person interested,
withdraw for inquiry before itself any proceedings for disciplinary action against any advocate
pending before the disciplinary committee of any State Bar Council and dispose of the same.
 The disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India, in disposing of any case under this
section, shall observe, so far as may be, the procedure laid down in section 35 the references to
the Advocate-General in that section being construed as references to the Attorney-General of
India.

NOTE (section 44) power of review

 The disciplinary committee of a Bar Council may of its own motion or otherwise review any
order within sixty days of the date of that order.
 No such order of review of the disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council shall have effect
unless it has been approved by the Bar Council of India.

NOTE (section 43) Cost of proceeding

 The disciplinary committee of a Bar Council may make such order as to the costs of any
proceedings before it as it may deem fit and any such order shall be executable as if it were an
order
 in the case of an order of the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India, of the
Supreme Court
 in the case of an order of the disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council, of the High
Court

APPEAL TO BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA (SECTION 37)

o Any person aggrieved by an order of the disciplinary committee of a State Bar or the
Advocate-General of the State may, within sixty days of the date of the communication
of the order to him, prefer an appeal to the Bar Council of India.
o Every such appeal shall be heard by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of
India which may pass such order including an order varying the punishment awarded by
the disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council
o no order of the disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council shall be varied by the
disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India so as to prejudicially affect the person
aggrieved without giving him reasonable opportunity of being heard.

APPEAL TO THE SUPREME COURT (SECTION 38)

o Any person aggrieved by an order made by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council
of India or the Attorney-General of India or the Advocate-General of the State
concerned, as the case may be
 o within sixty days of the date on which the order is communicated to him, prefer an
appeal to the Supreme Court
o the Supreme Court may pass such order including an order varying the punishment
awarded by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India
o no order of the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India shall be varied by the
Supreme Court so as to prejudicially affect the person aggrieved without giving him a
reasonable opportunity of being heard

NOTE

 An appeal shall not operate as a stay of the order appealed against, but the disciplinary
committee of the Bar Council of India, or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, may, for
sufficient cause, direct the stay of such order on such terms and conditions as it may deem fit.
(Section 40)

POWERS OF DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE (SECTION 42)

 The disciplinary committee of a Bar Council shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil
court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in respect of
o summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
o requiring discovery and production of any documents;
o receiving evidence on affidavits;
o requisitioning any public record or copies thereof from any court or office;
o issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;
o any other matter which may be prescribed:
 no such disciplinary committee shall have the right to require the attendance of
o any presiding officer of a court except with the previous sanction of the High Court to
which such court is subordinate
o any officer of a revenue court except with the previous sanction of the State
Government
 All proceedings before a disciplinary committee of a Bar Council shall be deemed to be judicial
proceedings within the meaning of sections 193 (punishment for false evidence upto 7
years)and 228 (intentional insult or interruption to public servant upto 6 months) of the Indian
Penal Code and every such disciplinary committee shall be deemed to be a civil court for the
purposes of sections 345(1), 346 and 349 CRPC
 a disciplinary committee may send to any civil court any summons or other process, for the
attendance of a witness or the production of a document required by the committee or any
commission which it desires to issue, and the civil court shall cause such process to be served or
such commission to be issued, as the case may be, and may enforce any such process as if it
were a process for attendance or production before itself
 the absence of the Chairman or any member of a disciplinary committee on a date fixed for the
hearing of a case before it, the disciplinary committee may, if it so thinks fit, hold or continue
the proceedings on the date so fixed and no such proceedings and no order made by the
disciplinary committee in any such proceedings shall be invalid merely by reason of the absence
of the Chairman or member thereof on any such date
 no final orders shall be made in any proceeding unless the Chairman and other members of the
disciplinary committee are present
 Where no final orders can be made in any proceedings in accordance with the opinion of the
Chairman and the members of a disciplinary committee either for want of majority opinion
amongst themselves or otherwise, the case, with their opinion thereon, shall be laid before the
Chairman of the Bar Council concerned or if the Chairman of the Bar Council is acting as the
Chairman or a member of the disciplinary committee, before the Vice-Chairman of the Bar
Council, and the said Chairman or the Vice-Chairman of the Bar Council, as the case may be,
after such hearing as he thinks fit, shall deliver his opinion and the final order of the disciplinary
committee shall follow such opinion