KSLU Solved Question Papers
Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 7
2017 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 7 Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System 2017 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2017 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2017 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2017 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 2½ hours · Total marks 80 · 13 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1Discuss the salient features of Advocates Act, 1961.[12]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the position before 1961 and the Act's purpose; the salient features in order, each with its sections (one class of advocates, elected Bar Councils, a common qualification and disqualification, one roll and a national right to practise, discipline by the profession with appeals, standards of conduct and legal education under the Bar Council of India, penalties and the new section 45A on touts); three decided cases with facts and holding (Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India, Bar Council of India v. Bonnie Foi Law College, Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India); the limits on the profession's autonomy.
Why the Act was passed
Before 1961 the profession was split. There were advocates, vakils, pleaders, mukhtars, attorneys and revenue agents. They were admitted under different laws, such as the Legal Practitioners Act 1879 and the Indian Bar Councils Act 1926. Their rights differed from court to court. The High Courts controlled admission and discipline.
The All India Bar Committee of 1953 and the Law Commission's Fourteenth Report recommended one unified Bar for the whole country. Parliament passed the Advocates Act 1961 to consolidate the law and to create a self-governing profession. Section 1(3) lets different provisions come into force on different dates, which is why some came much later.
Feature one: a single class of advocates
Section 29 says that there shall be only one class of persons entitled to practise law, namely advocates. Section 16 divides them into senior advocates and other advocates. Section 33 bars any person who is not enrolled from practising in any court. Section 45 makes illegal practice punishable with imprisonment up to six months.
Feature two: autonomous Bar Councils elected by advocates
The Act creates a Bar Council for each State (section 3) and the Bar Council of India (section 4). Both are bodies corporate, and their members are advocates elected by advocates.
- State Bar Councils (section 6) admit advocates, keep the State roll, decide cases of misconduct, protect advocates' rights, and run welfare schemes.
- The Bar Council of India (section 7) lays down standards of conduct and the procedure for disciplinary committees. It supervises the State Councils, promotes legal education and recognises law degrees.
Each Council works through committees: an executive committee, an enrolment committee and one or more disciplinary committees (sections 9 and 10). The Bar Council of India also has a legal education committee (section 10(2)(b)).
Feature three: a common qualification and clear disqualifications
Section 24 lays down one set of conditions for the whole country. A person must be an Indian citizen and at least twenty-one years old. He must hold a law degree recognised by the Bar Council of India and pay the enrolment fee in section 24(1)(f).
Section 24A disqualifies three kinds of person. The first is one convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude. The second is one convicted under the Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955, now the Protection of Civil Rights Act. The third is one dismissed from State employment on a charge involving moral turpitude. The bar lasts two years after release, dismissal or removal.
Feature four: one roll, a national right to practise
Each State Bar Council keeps a roll (section 17). A person may be on only one State roll (section 17(4)), and may transfer his name to another State roll (section 18). Section 22 gives him a certificate of enrolment.
Section 30 gives every advocate on the roll the right to practise "throughout the territories" of India, in all courts including the Supreme Court. That section came into force only on 15 June 2011.
Feature five: discipline by the profession, with appeals to the courts
Section 35 sends complaints of "professional or other misconduct" to the State Bar Council's disciplinary committee. It may reprimand, suspend or remove the advocate. Section 36B requires the case to be decided within one year, failing which it moves to the Bar Council of India. Section 37 gives an appeal to the Bar Council of India, and section 38 a further appeal to the Supreme Court. Section 44 allows review.
Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India, AIR 1998 SC 1895, shows how firmly this feature is fixed. In an earlier contempt case the Supreme Court had suspended a senior advocate's practice for three years under Article 129 read with Article 142. A Constitution Bench held that it could not do so. The power to suspend or remove an advocate belongs to the Bar Councils under the Advocates Act. Article 142 does not let the Court take over the role of a statutory body.
Feature six: standards of conduct and legal education
Section 7(1)(b) and section 49(1)(c) let the Bar Council of India make rules on professional conduct and etiquette. These are Part VI Chapter II of its Rules, rules 1 to 52. Breach of them is misconduct.
Section 7(1)(h) and (i) give the Council control over the standards of legal education and the recognition of law degrees. Section 49 gives it wide rule-making powers, including the conditions of the right to practise.
Bar Council of India v. Bonnie Foi Law College, decided on 10 February 2023, settled the reach of this power. In V. Sudeer v. Bar Council of India (1999) the Court had struck down rules requiring pre-enrolment training as beyond the Council's power. A Constitution Bench held that V. Sudeer did not lay down the correct law. The Council may require new advocates to pass the All India Bar Examination. It may also decide whether the examination is held before or after enrolment.
Feature seven: fair fees, welfare and penalties
Section 24(1)(f) fixes the enrolment fee: Rs 600 to the State Bar Council and Rs 150 to the Bar Council of India. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants pay Rs 100 and Rs 25.
In Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India, decided on 30 July 2024, State Bar Councils were collecting far larger sums under other names. The Supreme Court held they cannot charge anything beyond section 24(1)(f) and stamp duty as a condition of enrolment. Charging more violated Articles 14 and 19(1)(g). The ruling applies from that date, without refunds.
Feature eight: touts, the newest section
The Advocates (Amendment) Act 2023 inserted section 45A, in force from 30 September 2024. High Courts, District Judges, Sessions Judges, District Magistrates and Collectors may publish lists of touts after hearing them. A listed tout may be excluded from court precincts. Acting as a tout while listed is punishable with imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to Rs 500, or both. On the same day the last surviving parts of the Legal Practitioners Act 1879 were repealed.
The limits of self-government
The profession does not govern itself completely.
- Senior advocates are designated by the Supreme Court and the High Courts, not by the Bar Councils (section 16(2)).
- The Supreme Court's power to decide who may act or plead before it is preserved (section 52). This is the basis of the Advocate-on-Record system.
- High Courts may make rules on practice before them (section 34).
- Rules on conduct need the approval of the Chief Justice of India (proviso to section 49(1)).
Conclusion. The Advocates Act 1961 replaced six kinds of practitioner with one. It gave the profession elected Bar Councils, a common qualification, one roll and a right to practise across India. It put discipline in the hands of the profession, with appeals to the Bar Council of India and the Supreme Court. The courts have guarded this design. Supreme Court Bar Association keeps discipline with the Bar Councils. Bonnie Foi upholds their power to test entrants, and Gaurav Kumar stops them overcharging those entrants. Section 45A shows the Act is still being extended.
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