The bill is part of Central government’s endeavour to repeal “all obsolete laws or pre-independence Acts” that have lost their utility.
On the preceding Monday, the Lok Sabha accorded its assent to the Advocates (Amendment) Bill of 2023, a legislative endeavor seeking the abrogation of the antiquated Legal Practitioners Act of 1879 and the concomitant introduction of substantive amendments to the Advocates Act of 1961. The Honorable Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice, Mr. Arjun Ram Meghwal, duly presented the aforementioned bill in the august confines of the Rajya Sabha on the 1st day of August, whereupon it secured approbation from the upper chamber on the ensuing 3rd day of August.
This legislative initiative is consonant with the overarching policy directive of the Central government to excise anachronistic legal statutes and pre-independence enactments that have lapsed into desuetude. The proposed amendments are directed towards the harmonization and refinement of the regulatory framework governing the legal profession under the imprimatur of the Advocates Act of 1961. The obsolescence of the Legal Practitioners Act of 1879 is contemplated, save for a discrete provision germane to the proscription of court touts.
Furthermore, the bill effectuates the assimilation of Section 36, pertaining to the authorization for the formulation and dissemination of enumerations of court touts, from the Legal Practitioners Act of 1879 into the corpus of the Advocates Act of 1961. This legislative merger is motivated by the laudable objective of rationalizing and mitigating superfluous statutory prescriptions within the legal milieu.
