The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was passed by the Lok Sabha today for repealing the Legal Practitioners Act of 1879 along with amending the Advocates Act, 1961.
The bill was introduced by Arjun Ram Meghwal who holds the charge of Union Minister of State (independent charge) for for Law and Justice Law.
The bill was introduced by the Law minister in Rajya Sabha and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on August 1 before being passed by the upper house on August 3.
The Bill is part of Central government’s endeavour to repeal “all obsolete laws or pre-independence Acts” that have lost their utility.
It proposes regulation of the legal profession by only the Advocates Act, 1961 and repeals the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879, while retaining a provision dealing with touts in courts.
Further, It incorporates the provisions of Section 36 (power to frame and publish lists of touts in courts) of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879 in the Advocates Act, 1961 in order to reduce the number of “superfluous enactments” on the statute books.