CHENNAI: Expressing concern over some of the legal professionals attempting to commercialise the profession’, the Madras High Court has directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to initiate appropriate action against lawyers for advertisements and against the online service providers for displaying the advertisements.
The BCI is directed to issue guidelines to the State Bar Councils to initiate ‘disciplinary proceedings’ for misconduct against advocates for advertising, soliciting works directly or indirectly-whether by circular, advertisements, touts, interviews or newspaper comments, a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan said in an order passed on Wednesday.
The bench also directed the BCI to lodge complaints with the competent authorities against online service providers/intermediaries if they carry out the ‘unlawful act’ of publishing advertisements which is prohibited under Rule 36 of BCI Rules.
Moreover, the court directed the respondent websites to remove all the contents which are in violation of Rule 36 of BCI Rules within a period of four weeks.
The orders were passed on a petition filed by PN Vignesh seeking a direction to BCI to action against ‘quikr.in’, ‘sulekha.com’ and ‘justdial.com’ restraining them from carrying on the business of providing legal services on their web portal or apps.
The bench said it is agonising that some of the legal professionals today are trying to adopt a business model but the legal service is neither a job nor a business and it is a service to the society.