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MARKANDEY KATJU, GYAN SUDHA MISRA
Goa Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. – Appellant
Versus
R. K. Chawla – Respondent
Key Points: - The Advocate must be enrolled to practice; non-enrolled persons cannot ordinarily appear in court on behalf of others (!) (!) (!) (!) - Section 32 grants the court discretion to permit a non-advocate to appear in a particular case, but it is not a right of the non-advocate (!) - The petitioner (Goa Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.) was not granted permission for the power of attorney holder to appear; four weeks to engage a lawyer were granted (!) (!) (!) - For entities like companies, directors or office bearers do not have an inherent right to appear on behalf of the entity; only enrolled advocates may appear unless the court exercises its discretion under Section 32 (!) (!) - The court adjourned to allow engagement of a lawyer to appear and argue on behalf of the petitioner (!)
Judgment
1. Mr. Vishnu Kerikar, Deputy Manager, Finance & MS claims to be the power of attorney holder of the petitioner-Goa Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Limited in this case. He wishes to argue the case personally on behalf of the petitioner.
2. Section 33 of the Advocates Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') states as follows:
"33. Advocates alone entitled to practise - Except as otherwise provided in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, no person shall, on or after the appointed day, be entitled to practise in any court or before any authority or person unless he is enrolled as an advocate under this Act."
3. A perusal of the above provision shows that only a person who is enrolled as an advocate can practice in a court, except where otherwise provided by law. This is also evident from Section 29 of the Act.
4. A natural person can, of course, appear in person and argue his own case personally but he cannot give a power of attorney to anyone other than a person who is enrolled as an advocate to appear on his behalf. To hold otherwise would be to defeat the provisions of the Advocates Act.
5. Section 32 of the Act, however, vests discretion in t
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