Bill repeals 1879 Legal Practitioners Act, inserts new tout provisions

The goal is to consolidate the regulation of the legal profession under a single Act and remove superfluous pre-independence laws.

Who it concerns: The law affects High Courts, District Judges, Sessions Judges, District Magistrates, and Revenue-officers (who gain the power to frame lists of touts), as well as individuals who act as touts (who face penalties). It also impacts legal practitioners and the public by regulating who can be excluded from court precincts.

What the bill does

• Inserts a new section 45A into the Advocates Act, 1961, empowering specified judicial and revenue authorities to frame and publish lists of persons proved to be touts.
• Defines a 'tout' as a person who procures the employment of a legal practitioner for remuneration or frequents court precincts and other public places for such procurement.
• Requires that no person be included in a list of touts without an opportunity to show cause against inclusion.
• Allows courts or judges to exclude persons listed as touts from the precincts of the court.
• Prescribes a penalty for acting as a tout while listed: imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to five hundred rupees, or both.
• Repeals sections 1, 3, and 36 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, upon the commencement of the new section 45A.

Also in the document

• The Bill repeals parts of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, an obsolete pre-independence law, following recommendations from the Law Commission of India.
• The Financial Memorandum states that the provisions do not involve any expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India.
• The Bill was introduced by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (I/C) for Law & Justice.