The Indian Parliament enacted the Advocates (Amendment) Act, 2023, during the Winter Session, amending the Advocates Act, 1961, and repealing the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879. The legislation, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023, was designed to consolidate anti-tout provisions into the existing Advocates Act framework while eliminating a 144-year-old colonial-era statute from the statute book.
Background
The Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, had been enacted during British rule to regulate the conduct of legal practitioners and prevent the nuisance of touts operating in and around court premises. Section 36 of that Act empowered courts to frame lists of touts and prescribe penalties for touting. Despite the Advocates Act, 1961, becoming the principal legislation governing the legal profession, the 1879 Act remained on the statute book, creating redundancy and potential for confusion in the regulatory framework.
The Bar Council of India recommended the repeal of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, and the incorporation of its operative anti-tout provisions into the Advocates Act, 1961, as part of a broader initiative to reduce the number of superfluous enactments in the legal framework.
Key Provisions
The Advocates (Amendment) Act, 2023, introduces the following changes:
Repeal of Legal Practitioners Act, 1879: The colonial-era statute is formally repealed, removing it from the Indian statute book. This is part of the Government's broader initiative to repeal obsolete laws.
Tout lists by courts: High Courts, district judges, sessions judges, district magistrates, and revenue officers are empowered to frame and publish lists of touts. This power is now anchored in the Advocates Act rather than the 1879 legislation.
Definition of tout: A "tout" is defined as a person who procures, in consideration of any remuneration moving from any legal practitioner, the employment of the legal practitioner by any person.
Penalties: Any person who acts as a tout while their name is included in the list of touts is liable to punishment with imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to five hundred rupees, or both.
Exclusion from court premises: Courts and judges retain the power to exclude any person whose name appears on the list of touts from the court premises.
Implications for Practitioners
While the substantive impact of this amendment is limited — the anti-tout provisions are largely a re-enactment of existing powers under a different statutory home — the Act is noteworthy as part of the Government's programme of repealing obsolete colonial-era legislation. Practitioners should update their reference to the statutory basis for anti-touting powers from the Legal Practitioners Act to the amended Advocates Act.
Bar associations and district courts will need to verify that existing tout lists and exclusion orders reference the correct statutory provision following the transition. The relatively modest penalties prescribed may limit the deterrent effect, and practitioners involved in bar council governance may consider advocating for enhanced penalties in future amendments.