Problems on Profession relating to Chartered Accountant, Advocate and Medical Practitioner

Chartered Accountancy

Chartered accountancy is a profession which works closely with the core of all business whether it is small, medium or big size firm. A professional chartered accountant typically involves in accounting, auditing, tax, and financial planning. This job is highly rewarding and is also considered very challenging. Career opportunities post chartered accountancy are full of excitement.

There are various professional challenges that a person can face while working as a CA. You can see these challenges below:

Have to Work Overtime

During the fiscal year, there come several times when a chartered accountant has to work more than 70 hours a week.

Competitive Job

CA job is very competitive, People who are in this professionals are naturally driven, determined, focused and more intelligent as compared to other jobs. The training and job in this profession are highly competitive and intense.

Handle Pressure Situations

CA job has very responsible tasks and activities, as you have to make sure that each and every detail is up to the mark and when are doing overtime and having strict deadlines, it becomes very difficult to keep your focus.

Never Ending Training

Working in this field always require continuing professional development, so availing training in this profession is a continuous process. So you will have to keep studying throughout your career.

Detail Oriented Job

This job is meant for those professionals who are naturally highly detail-focused for any task.

Hierarchical Career

CA profession is a hierarchical career, here you will have to follow some sets of defined protocols and steps to move in the career hierarchy.

Deadlines in this career are non-negotiable and it is very important to meet the deadlines. So if you like to keep pushing things up to the last second then you are not in the right profession.

Advocate

A lawyer’s profession is meant to be a divine or sacred profession by all means. In every profession, there are certain professional ethics that need to be followed by every person who is into such a profession. But there is the fact that professional misconduct is a common aspect, not only in other professions but also in advocacy also. In simple terms, it means certain acts done by the persons which seem to be unfit for the profession as well as which are against certain ethics in this field. The term has been clearly defined in Black’s Dictionary as, the transgression of some established and definite rule of action, a forbidden act, a dereliction of duty, unlawful behavior, improper or wrong behavior. Its synonyms are a misdemeanour, impropriety, mismanagement, offense, but not negligence or carelessness. From the definition, it is now clear that the act of professional misconduct is done purely with an intention of getting unlawful gains. The Advocates Act, 1961 and the Indian Bar Council play a vital role in providing rules and guidelines regarding the working, code of conduct and such other matters concerning lawyers and advocates in India.

The attributes of a profession are:

1. Existence of a body of specialized knowledge or techniques.
2. Formalized method of acquiring training and experience.
3. Establishment of a representative organization with professionalism as its goal.
4. Formation of ethical codes for the guidance of conduct.
5. Charging of fees based on services but with due regards to the priority of service over the desire of monetary rewards.

Misconduct means any acts which are unlawful in nature even though they are not inherently wrongful. Before the Advocates Act, 1961, we had the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879. There is no definition given for the term ‘misconduct’ in the Act, but the term ‘unprofessional conduct’ is being used in the Act. Some of the instances of professional misconduct are as follows:

• Dereliction of duty
• Professional negligence
• Misappropriation
• Changing sides
• Contempt of court and improper behaviour before a Magistrate
• Furnishing false information
• Giving improper advice
• Misleading the clients in court
• Not speaking the truth
• Disowning allegiance to the court
• Moving application without informing that a similar application has been rejected by another authority
• Suggesting to bribe the court officials
• Forcing the prosecution witness not to say the truth.

Advocates Act, 1961

The provisions of Section 35 of the Advocates Act deal with professional misconduct of lawyers and advocates in India, which read as:

A person is found guilty of professional misconduct; it shall refer the case to a disciplinary committee, shall fix a date of hearing and issue a show cause notice to the Advocate and the Advocate General of the State. The disciplinary committee of the State Bar Council, after being heard of both the parties, may:

1. Dismiss the complaint, or where the proceedings were initiated at the instance of the State Bar Council, directs that proceedings be filed;
2. Reprimand the advocate;
3. Suspend the advocate from practice for such a period as it deems fit;
4. Remove the name of an advocate from the state roll of advocates.

Misconduct is of infinite variety; this expression must be understood in a broad meaning, such that it extends the meaning under natural law, and there is no justification for restricting their natural meaning. Section 49 of the Advocate Act empowers the Bar Council of India to frame rules and standards of professional misconduct. Under the Act, no person has a right to make advertisement or soliciting; it is against advocate’s code of ethics. He is also not entitled to any advertisement through circulars, personal communications or interviews, he is not entitled to demand fees for training and to use name/service for unauthorized purposes.

Contempt of Court as Professional misconduct

Contempt of court may be defined as an offense of being disobedient or disrespectful towards the court or its officers in the form of certain behaviour that defies authority, justice, and dignity of the court. In various cases involving contempt of court, the court held that if any advocate or legal practitioner is found guilty of the act of contempt of court, he/she may be imprisoned for six years and may be suspended from practicing as an advocate  (In re Vinay Chandra Mishra). The court also held that license of the advocate to practice a legal profession might be canceled by the Supreme Court or High Court in the exercise of the contempt jurisdiction.

There are many other landmark judgments regarding the cases involving professional misconduct of the advocates. In the case of V.C. Rangadurai v. D.Gopalan, the court looked into the matter of professional misconduct in such a way that the decision was made in a humanitarian manner, considering the future of the accused in this case. The court held that “even so justice has a correctional edge, a socially useful function, especially if the delinquent is too old to be pardoned and too young to be disbarred. Therefore, a curative, not cruel punishment has to be delivered in the social setting of the legal profession”. The court then gave the decision in such a way that it looked at each and every aspect concerning the case as well as the parties concerned. It adopted a deterrent was of justice mechanism so that the accused person is awarded certain punishments but also provided a warning towards such other people who intend to commit acts of a similar nature. The judgment turned out to be a landmark in cases concerning professional misconduct as it delivered an effective judgment and but did not jeopardize the future of the accused person. In various other cases like J.S. Jadhav v. Musthafa Haji Muhammed Yusuf, the court delivered the decision in such a way that it created a notion in the minds of the wrongdoers that offenders will be punished accordingly.