Lawstreet Journal

Calcutta HC Says Legal Profession Is Not A Commercial Activity [Read Order]

Lawstreet Journal 18 Feb 2020 1:32pm

Image courtesy: Lawstreet Journal Judiciary Calcutta HC Says Legal Profession Is Not A Commercial Activity [Read Order]

The Calcutta High Court in it's judgement of February 11th, 2020 has stated that the profession of a lawyer cannot be termed as a commercial activity. The court took the stand while giving out the verdict in the case titled Arup Sarkar v CESC Ltd & Ors. The case held that the legal profession is not a commercial activity and therefore Chambers of lawyers is not a residential property and cannot be categorized into the commercial usage of the property. 

In regard to this, the Court clarified: "...a professional activity involves a certain amount of skill as against commercial activity which is a matter of business is paramount. These two were held to be distinct concepts; while in commercial activity, one works for gain or profit, as against this, in the profession, one works for his livelihood. Accordingly, there is a fundamental distinction between a professional activity and an activity of a commercial character, and therefore, it is crystal clear that the legal profession would not fall under the category of 'Commercial (Urban)'."

To make the point clear, the Court relied on Apex Court's verdict in Kanubhai Shantilal Pandya & Ors. v. Vadodara Municipal Corporation (2014)

The presiding Judge, Justice Shekhar B Saraf went onto add: "This is distinguishable from law firms and proprietorship firms that are having offices in commercial spaces dealing with litigation and non-litigation work."

The Questions Raised Before The Court Were: 

Whether a Lawyer using a domestic space as his Chambers is liable to be charged with a tariff on a… Continue Reading...


Tagged: calcutta high court  
Disclaimer: SoOLEGAL in Media collaboration with Lawstreet Journal. SoOLEGAL take no responsbility for the content provided by Lawstreet Journal. For any discrepancies Contact Lawstreet Journal.
Did you find this write up useful? YES 0 NO 0
×

C2RMTo Know More

Something Awesome Is In The Work

0

DAYS

0

HOURS

0

MINUTES

0

SECONDS

Sign-up and we will notify you of our launch.
We’ll also give some discount for your effort :)

* We won’t use your email for spam, just to notify you of our launch.
×

SAARTHTo Know More

Launching Soon : SAARTH, your complete client, case, practise & document management SAAS application with direct client chat feature.

If you want to know more give us a Call at :+91 98109 29455 or Mail info@soolegal.com