The Allahabad High Court recently pulled up the State’s Commercial Taxes Department for lodging an FIR against an advocate for the act performed by him in his professional capacity.
Sending a strong message, a bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena said that if advocates are prosecuted for performing a professional act, it would be the “end of the very existence of the Bar” as well as the right of an Advocate to practice under the Advocates Act.
The bench thus quashed an FIR and the subsequent chargesheet against petitioner-Samarpan Jain, an Advocate on Record before the HC. It also set aside the cognizance order passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur.
Briefly put, Jain was engaged by his client (Mohd. Haris), the proprietor of M/s MH Enterprises, to file statutory appeals under Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
The Court added that an Advocate has to work fearlessly and discharge his professional duties, just as an officer of the State is entitled to discharge his duties.
The Bench noted that prosecuting lawyers would indirectly deprive citizens of their much-valued right to legal assistance, as a lawyer would be thinking about his own defense before filing a vakalatnama.
