There are State Bar Councils. There is Bar Council of India Every Bar Council is a body corporate.
10. The functions of a State Bar Council are inter alia to entertain and determine cases of misconduct against advocates on its roll and to safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates on its roll.
11. The functions of the Bar Council of India are inter alia to lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette to lay down the procedure to be followed by its disciplinary committee and the disciplinary committees of State Bar Councils, to safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates and to exercise general supervision and control over State Bar Councils.
12. Disciplinary committees are constituted by each Bar Council. A Bar Council is required to constitute one or more disciplinary committees each of which shall consist of three persons of whom two shall be persons elected by the Council from amongst its members and the other shall be a person co-opted by the Council from amongst advocates who possess the qualifications specified in the proviso to Section 3(2) of the Act and are not members of the Council, and the senior-most advocate amongst the members of a disciplinary committee shall be its Chairman.
13. When the Executive Committees of a State Bar Council and of the Bar Council of India and an Enrolment Committee of a State Bar Council and the legal education committee of the Bar Council of India are to consist of members elected by the Council from amongst its members, it is noticeable that the disciplinary committees of Bar Councils of State as well as of Bar Council of India shall consist of three persons of whom two shall be elected by the Council from, amongst its members and the other shall be a person co-opted by the Council from advocates who are not otherwise members of the Council.
14. Chapter V of the Act relates to the Conduct of Advocates. Chapter V contains Sections 35 to 44. Section 35 states that where on receipt of a complaint or otherwise a State Bar Council has reason to believe that any advocate on its roll has been guilty of professional or other misconduct, it shall refer the case for disposal to its disciplinary committee. The State Bar Council may, either of its own motion or on application made to it by any person interested, withdraw a proceeding pending before its disciplinary committee and direct that inquiry to be made by another disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council. The disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council shall fix a date for the hearing of the case and shall cause a notice to be given to the advocate concerned and to the Advocate-General of the State. The disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council may make any of the following orders namely (a) dismiss the complaint, or where the proceedings were initiated at the instance of the State Bar Council direct that the proceedings be filed (b) reprimand the advocate, (c) suspend the advocate for such period as it may deem fit, (d) remove the name of the advocate from the State roll of advocates.
15. Section 36 speaks of disciplinary powers of the Bar Council of India and provides that where on receipt of a complaint or otherwise the Bar Council of India has reason to believe that any advocate whose name is not entered on any State roll has been guilty of professional or other misconduct, it shall refer the case for disposal to its disciplinary committee. The disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India may either of its own motion or on a report by any State Bar Council or on an application made to it by any person interested, withdraw for inquiry before itself any proceeding for disciplinary action against any advocate pending before the disciplinary committee of any State Bar Council and dispose of the same.
16. Section 37 speaks of appeal to the Bar Council of India.. This section states that any person aggrieved by an order of the disciplinary committee of a State Bar Council or the Advocate-General of the State may, within sixty days of the date of communication of the order, prefer an appeal to the Bar Council of India.
17. Section 38 provides for appeal to the Supreme Court. Section 38 states that any person aggrieved by an order made by the disciplinary committee of the Bar Council of India u/s 36 or Section 37 or the Attorney-General Of India or the Advocate General of the State, as the case may be, may prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court.
18. Section 49 of the Act provides that the Bar Council of India may make rules for discharging its functions under the Act and in particular such rules may prescribe inter alia the standards of professional conduct and etiquette to be observed by advocates. The Bar Council of India in exercise of the rule making power u/s 49(c) of the Act on 10 and 11 July, 1954 approved the rules of standards of professional conduct and etiquette. The standards of professional conduct and etiquette are described in five sections. The first section deals with duty of advocates to the Court. The second section speaks of duty of advocates to the clients. The third section consists of rules regarding duty of advocates to opponent. The fourth section prescribes duties of advocates to colleagues. The fifth section lays down restrictions on advocates on other employments.
