AMN / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea seeking ban on lawmakers to practice as advocates, saying that the Bar Council of India rules do not prohibit them.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud on July 9 reserved the order on the PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.
The PIL sought to bar MPs, MLAs and MLCs from practising in courts during their tenure in legislature which was a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
The bench had earlier taken note of the Centre’s submission that an MP or an MLA is an elected representative and not a full-time employee of the Government, hence the plea was not maintainable.
However, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Upadhyay told the court that a lawmaker draws a salary from the public exchequer and a salaried employee is debarred by the Bar Council of India from practising in the courts of law.
To this, the bench replied that employment postulates a master-servant relationship and the government of India is not the master of a Member of Parliament.