A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to ban legislators from practising other professions, including as advocates.
The petition, filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, said the restriction imposed on public servants and judges against engaging in other professions should apply to lawmakers.
Many legislators who double up as advocates are even retainers of big corporate bodies entities, thus giving rise to a situation of conflict of interest between their constitutional duties as a legislator and a lawyer meant to vouchsafe the private interests of their client.
“We cannot curb corruption without having a uniform policy relating to conflict of interest and restricting our legislators to practice other professions as similar to the restriction imposed on public servants and members of the judiciary... many lawmakers hold corporate retainership and defend their lawbreaker clients in courts. It is not only immoral, unethical but also violation of the Rule 49 of the Bar Council of India Rules,” Mr. Upadhyay contended.
“It is said that with 543 Lok Sabha MPs representing more than 1.3 billion people, a Member of Parliament on an average represents more than 2.25 million people. Similarly, a Rajya Sabha MP is the voice of his State in Parliament, and as such, has a very important role in our federal political system. The primary role of an MP is as a legislator. Thus, MPs must attend Parliament every day and dedicate themselves full time for the welfare of people,” the petition said.
Many senior advocates like Ram Jethmalani and K.T.S. Tulsi, who are Rajya Sabha MPs, are also practising advocates.
