Can doctors practice law by keeping their medical registration active? Apparently not. The Kerala High Court on Wednesday denied permission to a homoeopathy doctor to enrol as an advocate without cancelling her registration.
The bench held that homoeopaths cannot enrol as advocates unless they first cancel their registration as medical practitioners.
By citing the Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act 2021, the bench observed that, "A perusal of the provisions of the MP Act 2021, especially those referred to above, it is quite evident that, if a person's name is included in the list of registered medical practitioners, he cannot follow any other profession without permission from the Council or without cancelling his registration."
As per the Bar Council of Kerala, mere suspension of a medical license or closing a private clinic is not enough. The professional must formally remove their name from the register of medical practitioners to avoid loyalties.
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"In view of the above discussion, it has to be concluded that a registered medical practitioner of Homoeopathy can be denied permission to enrol as an Advocate unless the registration as a Homoeopath is cancelled," the court observed.
The homoeopathic practitioner moved the High Court after the Bar Council denied her enrolment, despite her having cancelled her municipal clinic licence prior to applying.
She submitted that she had completed her LLB course, and cleared the All India Bar Examination and had also undertaken not to practice medicine after enrolment as an advocate.
The doctor alleged that she was arbitrarily denied permission to enrol as an advocate, while the Bar Council revealed that she had obtained a Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine degree in 2008. However, she had not produced any document evidencing the cancellation of her license as a homoeopathic doctor.
According to the authorities, the rules indicate that a person already engaged in any other profession is not qualified to be admitted as an advocate.
Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961, along with Rule 2(h) of Chapter V of the Bar Council of Kerala Rules, 1979, under which every applicant willing to enrol as an advocate is required to declare that he or she is not engaged in any trade, business or profession except part-time teaching in law.
The court also referred to the Supreme Court order in the case of Dr Haniraj L. Chulani vs Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa (1996), the court reiterated that the legal profession requires full-time attention.
