MPs, MLAs, MLCs can continue to practise as advocates: SC
New Delhi, Sep 25: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that lawyers-turned-lawmakers, both in Parliament and the state legislatures cannot be barred from practising before the courts during their term as lawmakers.
"To sum up, we hold that the provisions of the Advocates Act of 1961 and the Bar Council of India Rules framed thereunder do not place any restrictions on the legislators to practise as advocates during the relevant period," said the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in their judgment.
The court said this while addressing a limited question whether legislators can be debarred from practising as advocates during the period when they continue to be the members of Parliament or a state Assembly/Council.
The top court judgment refusing to restrict lawmakers from practising as advocates before the courts has come as boost to senior lawyers Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, P. Chidambaram, K.T.S. Tulsi, Pinaki Misra, Meenakshi Lekhi and K. Parasaran, who are among the parliamentarians practising as advocates.
While rejecting the plea to bar the lawyer-cum-lawmakers from practising law before the courts, the top court also said that the conferment of power on the members of Parliament to move an impeachment motion against the judge(s) of the constitutional courts does not per se result in conflict of interest or a case of impacting constitutional morality or for that matter institutional integrity.
The court's verdict came on a plea filed by advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, contending that MPs/MLAs practising as advocates pose a conflict of interest under the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961, and the Bar Council of India Rules.
The plea had sought a ban on legislators practising as advocates for the period that they occupy such positions as lawmakers, contending that the dual role would also amount to professional misconduct when MPs and MLAs, who get salary and other benefits from public funds, appear against the government as lawyers.
The court said that merely because the advocate concerned is an elected people's representative, it does not follow that he/she has indulged in professional misconduct.
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ED questions 'L2: Empuraan' producer Gopalan in chit fund case
Kochi, Apr 7 (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned Gokulam Gopalan, one of the producers of the Malayalam movie 'L2: Empuraan', at its Kochi office in connection with a foreign exchange law "violation" by his chit fund company, sources said.
The federal probe agency recorded the Kerala-based businessman's statement under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is said to have questioned him earlier during searches conducted in the case last week in Kozhikode and Chennai.
The agency has said it seized Rs 1.5 crore in cash after searching the premises of Sree Gokulam Chits and Finance Co Pvt Ltd, the chit fund company owned by Gopalan.
The producer could not be contacted for a response on the allegations made against him and his company by the probe agency.
The ED searches came in the backdrop of the recent controversy surrounding 'L2: Empuraan', the second movie in the 'Lucifer' trilogy.
Touted as one of the costliest Malayalam cinema productions, 'L2: Empuraan' was released on March 27 and soon became a topic of hot debate over its critique of right-wing politics and covert mention of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The other producers of the film are Antony Perumbavoor and A Subaskaran under the banners of Aashirvad Cinemas and Lyca Productions, respectively.
According to Perumbavoor, a little over two minutes of scenes were deleted from the movie following the controversy.
In a statement last week, ED said it has gathered "specific" intelligence that Sree Gokulam Chits and Finance was collecting subscription to chit funds from people residing outside India without due authorisation.
"The subscription amounts from these people were being collected in cash in violation of the regulations framed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This led to the violation of Regulation 4(b) of Foreign Exchange Management (Permissible Capital Account Transactions) Regulations, 2000 read with circular No 107 dated June 11, 2015 issued by the RBI," the agency claimed.
The company collected Rs 3,71.80 crore in cash from people residing outside India and Rs 220.74 crore through cheques from the same category of people, it said.
'L2: Empuraan' was directed by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who also featured in the film alongside Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.
