The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has urged the Centre not to succumb to the pressure being exerted by the British lobby to allow entry of foreign law firms.
President of SILF Lalit Bhasin said in a statement that despite the pronouncement by the Bombay High Court that foreign law firms could not be allowed entry, there had been a revival of interest in the government.
He said this was the “result of insurmountable pressures being exerted on the government by the British lobby and every month there are delegations from the U.K. visiting India with the one point programme of getting legal services in India open up to foreign law firms. The British Prime Minister is visiting India soon and one of the topmost priorities is to discuss opening of the legal services sector in India.”
The SILF said the High Court judgment had become final as there was no appeal and one petition was still pending adjudication in the Madras High Court. The Centre was now contemplating getting this transferred to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Bhasin asked: “Why should the Government of India take this initiative of transferring the case to the Supreme Court since it has not challenged the Bombay High Court judgment. A case can be transferred to the Supreme Court if two or more High Courts are seized of the same issue of law.
“The U.K. government is fully backing its legal profession seeking greener pastures due to the negative growth in the U.K., and China and India are the markets they are looking at. The Government of India, instead of supporting and protecting India's legal profession, appears to be supportive of these moves by the U.K. government. The Bar Council of India has totally and unequivocally opposed entry of foreign law firms and our society has opposed the entry of law firms from overseas.”
While welcoming mutual cooperation, assistance and sharing of knowledge among the members of the legal profession, Mr. Bhasin said taking over or acquisition of the Indian legal profession could not be allowed.
