PRESIDENT OF INDIA Vs. LILY ISABEL THOMAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The proper construction of Art. 145(1)(a) of the Constitution in the context of a prayer for a declaration that Rule 16 of Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules is invalid is the principal point raised in this petition which has been filed by an Advocate who under the Advocates Act, 1961 is entitled to practise in this Court.

(2.) The petitioner was enrolled in the Madras High Court on November 15 1955 under the Indian Bar Councils Acct, 1926 and was admitted to the rolls of this Court on October 29, 1960 under Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules as they then stood. She states that as an Advocate entitled to practise in this Court, she is entitled as of right not merely to plead but also to act, and that the rules of this Court which prescribe qualifications before she could be permitted to act are therefore invalid. The prayer which she makes by her petition is therefore for a declaration that Rule 16(1) of Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules as amended in 1962 which contains this prescription of qualification be declared ultra vires of this Court and a further declaration that she is entitled to practise as an Advocate on record in this Court without conforming to the requirements now imposed by the impugned rule.

(3.) Rule 16 whose validity is challenged runs: