Legal Profession After independence:

The All India Bar Committee, 1951:

● The Bar Councils Act, 1926 could not satisfy the Bar as it failed to set up a unified Indian
Bar.
● The Bar Councils were neither autonomous nor had any substantial authority.
● The Indian practitioners had three main aims namely:

1. The abolition of all distinctions between various classes and grades of legal
practitioners.

2. The democratization of Bar Councils by bringing in representatives of the mofussil

lawyers in them; and

3. The taking away of the control exercised by the High Courts over the members of the
legal profession and vesting the same in the Bar Council.

● To achieve these aims, their efforts were continued till the establishment of Supreme
Court of India (under the new Constitution) Under the Supreme Court Advocates
(Practice in High Courts) Act, 1951, every advocate of the Supreme Court was declared
entitled as a right to practice in any High Court, whether or not he was an advocate of
that High Court.
● The Government of India felt the necessity for setting up an All India Bar Council, and
appointed a committee headed by Justice S.R.Das as Chairman in 1951. The
Committee (The All India Bar Committee) submitted its report in 1954 and recommended
the creation of a unified national Bar.

Recommendations:

● The recommendations of the All India Bar Committee, 1951 may; be summed up as
follows:

1. There was to be a common roll of advocates, who would be entitled to practice in all
courts in the country.

2. The State Bar Councils should maintain a register of all existing advocates in the
respective High Courts.

3. The minimum qualification prescribed was a law degree from a University obtained
after graduation.

4. The power of enrolment, suspension and removal of advocates be vested in Bar

Councils subject to certain safeguards.
5. New entrants having required qualification may apply to a State Bar Council for
enrollment and their names should be forwarded to the All India Bar Council for being
entered on the common roll.

The recommendations of the All India Bar Committee, particularly the creation of an All
India Bar Council were given effect by the Fifth Law Commission in its fourteenth report
submitted in 1958.
The Commission also recommended the categorisation of legal practitioners into senior
Advocates and Advocates.
It also recommended that the Bar Councils should be autonomous bodies consisting of
the members wholly from the legal profession, and the Chairman was to be elected by
them.

The Advocates Act, 1961: ( Act No 25)

● The longfelt demand/desire of the Indian legal practitioners for creation of
all India Bar was fulfilled with the passing of the Advocates Act, by the
Parliament in 1961.
● To amend and consolidate the law relating to legal practitioners, provision was
made under the Act for the establishment of the State Har Councils and an All
India Bar.
● The Act established an All India Bar and a common roll of advocates.
● An advocate on the Common Rolls has a right to practice anywhere in India and
any court including the Supreme Court.
● The Bar has been Integrated into a single class of Legal practitioners known as
"Advocates", On the basis of merit, the advocates were categorized as senior
Advocates and Advocates.
● Under the Act, the State Bar Councils were made autonomous.

The Objects of the Act are :

- The Act seeks to implement the recommendations of the All
India Bar Committee which established in 1953
- Taking into the recommendations of the Law Commission on
the subject of Reform of Judicial Administration
- Recommendations relate to the Bar and the Legal Education

➢ Composition of the Act : The Act , consisting of VII

Chapters and 60 Sections

The Main Features of the Act :

1.The establishment of an All India Bar Council and a common roll of advocates and
advocates on the common roll having a right to practice in any part of the country and in
any Court, including the Supreme Court.
2.The integration of the bar into a single class of legal practitioners known as advocates.
3. The prescription of a uniform qualification for the admission of persons to be
advocates.
4. The division of advocates into senior advocates and other advocates based on merit.
5. The creation of autonomous Bar Councils, one for the whole of India and one for each
State.

CONTENTS OF THE ADVOCATES ACT, 1961

The Act, contains 60 Sections and VII Chapters
Chapter I : Preliminary ( Sec. 1 to 2 )
Chapter II : Bar Councils ( Sec. 3 to 15 )
Chapter III : Admission and Enrollment of Advocates ( Sec. 16 to 28 )
Chapter IV : Right to Practice ( Sec . 29 to 34 )
Chapter V : Conduct of Advocates ( Sec. 35 to 44 )
Chapter VI : Miscellaneous ( Sec. 45 to 52 )
Chapter VII : Temporary and Transitional Provisions ( Sec. 53 to 60)

Section 2 of the Advocates Act, 196) defines certain terma It provided that, unless
the context otherwise requires

(a)"Advocate" means an Advocale entered in any role urales the provisions of this Act;
(d) “Bar Council” means a Bar Council constituted under this Act
(h) “law graduate” means a person who has obtained a bachelor’s
degree in law from any University established by law in India;
(i) “Legal practitioner” means an advocate 5[or vakil] or any High
Court, a pleader, mukhtar or revenue agent;
(k) “roll” means a roll of advocates prepared and maintained under this act

"Appointed day" in relation to any provision of this Act means the day on which the
provision comes into force;

'Bar Council 'means a Bar Council constituted under this Act.

'Bar Council of India' means the Bar Council constituted under
section 4 for the territories to which this Act extended.

"The High Court", except in sub section (1) and suction (1-A) of section 34 and in
sections 42 and 43 does not include a Court of the Judicial Commissioner and in
eclation in a State Bar Council, means -
i) in the case of a Bar Council constituted for a State or for a State and one or more
Union Territories, the High Court for the State,

ii) in the case of the Bar Council Constituted for Delhi, the High Court of Delhi

"Law Graduate" means a person who has obtained bachelor's degive in law from any
University established by law in India.

"Legal practitioner" means an advocate or vakil of any High Court, a pleader, mukhtar
or revenue agent.

Important points:
The Advocates Act makes provision for the establishment of the State Bar Council and
Bar Council of India.
The main functions of the Bar Council of India are to lay down the standards of
professional conduct and etiquette for advocates, to lay down the procedure to be
followed by its disciplinary committee, to safeguard the rights, privileges and interest of
advocates, to promote and support law reforms, to promote legal education, to
recognise.
Universities which degree in law shall be a qualification for enrolment as an advocate, to
conduct seminars, etc .
It provides for two classes of advocates, senior advocates and other advocates.
The State Bar Council are required to maintain the role of advocates and to send copies
of rolls of advocates to the Bar Council of India:
The Act contains exhaustive provisions relating to enrolment and admission of
advocates, rights of advocates, punishment for professional and other misconduct, etc.