06 June 2016
Please tell me the recent amendment in service tax withdrawing the exemption of service tax on senior advocates and definition of senior advocates. What type of services provided by senior advocates are liable to service tax and whether legal service provided by law firm is also covered in this ambit.
06 June 2016
Senior advocate is defined u/s 16 of Advocates Act 1961. Type of services provided by senior advocate are liable for service tax: 1 Service provided to advocates or firms of advocates. 2 To arbitral tribunal. 3 Person carrying on industry, Business or profession having turnover exceeding 10 lacs in the previous year.
06 June 2016
As per Section 16 in THE ADVOCATES ACT, 1961
Senior and other advocates.— (1) There shall be two classes of advocates, namely, senior advocates and other advocates. (2) An advocate may, with his consent, be designated as senior advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of opinion that by virtue of his ability 1[standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in law] he is deserving of such distinction. (3) Senior advocates shall, in the matter of their practice, be subject to such restrictions as the Bar Council of India may, in the interest of the legal profession, prescribe. (4) An advocate of the Supreme Court who was a senior advocate of that Court immediately before the appointed day shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a senior advocate: 2[Provided that where any such senior advocate makes an application before the 31st December, 1965 to the Bar Council maintaining the roll in which his name has been entered that he does not desire to continue as a senior advocate, the Bar Council may grant the application and the roll shall be altered accordingly.]
Legal services provided by senior advocate to:-
(i) Advocates or firm of advocates
(ii) Business entity,
will be chargeable to service tax on forward basis. Other services provided by senior advocates shall be exempt.
There is a lot of confusion as to who exactly is a Senior Advocate. It is a common sight to see many advocates who have a name plate with a tag of “Senior Advocate” put up in front of their house. This is especially common in small cities where legal awareness is very low and no one is there to check the veracity of facts.
However, there are not many senior advocates in India. In this article I will try to explain who is a senior advocate and what are the privileges and responsibilities that are attached to this designation.
There are two classes of Advocates, Senior Advocates and all the other Advocates[1].
An advocate may, with his consent, be designated as a Senior Advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of opinion that by virtue of his ability and standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in law, he is deserving of such distinction[2]. It is interesting to note that only Supreme Court and the High Court have the power to designate in this respect. Thus District Courts cannot designate an advocate as a Senior Advocate.
Right of Pre-Audience
Right of Pre-Audience is the right to be heard before another advocate is heard. It tells about the precedence at the bar among the advocates.
According to the Advocates Act, 1961 the order to be followed in determining the right of pre-audience is as follows[3]:
(1) The Attorney General for India; (2) The Solicitor General of India; (3) The Additional Solicitor General of India; (4) The Second Additional Solicitor General of India; (5) The Advocate-General of a state; (6) The Senior Advocates;
Restrictions on Senior Advocates[4]
1. A Senior Advocate cannot file a vakalatnama or act in any Court or Tribunal.
2. A Senior Advocate shall not appear without an Advocate on Record in the Supreme Court or without an Advocate of the State Roll in any other court or Tribunal.
3. He cannot accept directly from a client any brief or instructions to appear in any Court or Tribunal in India.
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