Gujarat high court rejected a petition filed by a retired banker, who is a practising chartered accountant (CA), asking for enrolment as an advocate.

Justice R H Shukla upheld the provisions made by the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Bar Council of Gujarat (BCG), that a person engaged in other profession cannot be given a licence to practice law.

In the present case, one Mam Raj Goel began his practice as a CA after he retired from a nationalized bank. He joined a local accountancy firm. He also holds a law degree and wanted to start practising law in courts and tribunals hearing taxation matters in particular. In 2015 he applied for enrolment as an advocate with the BCG, but his application was rejected.

Goel approached the HC and argued that his practice as a CA is nothing but a law practice relating to the commercial branch of law - the Income Tax Act, Companies Act, Partnership Act etc. He submitted that he is not a salaried employee, and therefore cannot be denied enrolment with the Bar merely because he is a partner in a CA firm.

For the BCG, advocate Rashmin Jani cited the Advocates Act and Rule 49 of the BCI Rules, which provide that any person engaged in other professions or working on salary basis cannot be given a certificate or licence to practice law as an advocate.

After hearing the case, the HC said that a person as a member of a profession has to discharge his obligation. The profession as a lawyer is a full-time profession, and the person already working as a professional Chartered Accountant cannot be allowed to be enrolled as a lawyer. The nature of work may have some kind of overlap or connection, but it is not the nature of work, but the nature of the profession which is relevant. #casansaar (Source - Times of India)