Public Service Commission, in our opinion, had no authority to come to the conclusion that the appellant herein had ceased to be an advocate in view of accepting the retainership in a law firm since the Bar Council of West Bengal never took any such decision in respect of the appellant herein under the Advocates Act, 1961. Bar Council is the competent authority to take any decision in respect of an enrolled advocate and not the Public Service Commission. The respondent Public Service Commission Authorities neither asked the appellant herein to furnish any explanation with regard to his engagement with the law firms as an enrolled advocate nor even consulted the Bar Council of West Bengal in order to ascertain the validity of the enrolment of the said appellant as an advocate. The Public Service Commission Authorities exceeded its jurisdiction and authority by coming to the conclusion that the enrolment of the appellant herein as an advocate was not valid on the date of advertisement issued for the West Bengal Judicial Service Examination, 2013 notwithstanding the fact that the enrollment of the appellant as an advocate in the roll of Bar Council of West Bengal was never cancelled and/or even suspended by the Bar Council of West Bengal.
An Advocate can under no circumstances automatically cease to be an Advocate unless specific order is passed by the Bar Council in accordance with law removing and/or suspending the name of the said Advocate from the roll of the concerned Bar Council. In the present case, the appellant-petitioner herein therefore, cannot automatically cease to be an Advocate or even deemed to cease to be an Advocate on the date of the advertisement issued by the Public Service Commission authorities for the West Bengal Judicial Service Examination, 2013 in the absence of any deeming clause.
Kolkata High Court (Appellete Side)
Souvik mukherjee vs State Of West Bengal on 17 February, 2014
Present:The Hon'ble Justice Pranab Kumar Chattopadhyay
And
The Hon'ble Justice Samapti Chatterjee
A.S.T. No. 223 of 2013
With
A.S.T.A. 110 of 2013
Citation;AIR 2014 Calcutta 85
