New Delhi: Rajya Sabha has passed the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The Bill seeks to amend the Advocates Act, 1961. The Bill repeals certain sections related to touts under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879. The Bill provides that every High Court, district judge, sessions judge, district magistrate, and revenue officer not below the rank of a district collector can frame and publish lists of touts. Tout refers to a person who either proposes to procure or procures the employment of a legal practitioner in a legal business in return for any payment or frequents places such as the precincts of civil or criminal courts, revenue offices, or railway stations to procure such employment.
Under the provision of the legislation, the Court or judge may exclude from the premises of the Court any person whose name is included in the list of touts. No person will be included in such lists without getting an opportunity of showing cause against his inclusion. Under the new legislation, any person who acts as a tout while his name is included in the list of touts will be punished with imprisonment for up to three months, a fine of up to 500 rupees, or both.
Replying to a debate on the Bill in the House, Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the aim of the legislation is to clear the premises of courts from touts so that comma man could not be cheated by such persons. He said, once the list of touts is published and if such persons are again found in the court premises then there is a provision of imposing a fine and imprisonment of three months.
Earlier initiating the debate on the Bill, Sujeet Kumar of BJD appreciated the government for repealing old, obsolete, and outdated laws. He urged the government to make a provision of making mandatory continuous professional development of advocates. Vijay Pal Singh Tomar of BJP supported the provisions of this legislation saying that it aims at removing touts from the premises of courts. S Niranjan Reddy of YSRCP, Dr M Thambidurai of AIADMK, Dr Ashok Bajpai of BJP, and members from other political parties also participated in the discussion.
