If doctors can be sued over poor service, why not lawyers, asks SC

IN 2007, THE NAT'L COMMISSION HELD THAT ADVOCATES DO COME UNDER THE PURVIEW OF THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT AND CAN BE DRAGGED TO A CONSUMER COURT BY THEIR CLIENTS

- Utkarsh Anand

Why can't lawyers be sued for poor service if doctors can be brought before consumer courts for negligence? The Supreme Court raised this question on Wednesday as it began hearing a clutch of petitions about whether legal representation for a fee can be classified as a "service" under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

"You (lawyer) have to also employ your skills and knowledge in the facts of that case...like a doctor does with a patient. How is it any different from a doctor?" asked a bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal, as it started to consider several petitions that questioned the views taken by the national consumer commission in 2007.

In its 2007 judgment, the commission held that advocates do come under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act and can be dragged to a consumer court by their clients for deficiency in service. The judgment declared that the legal services rendered by lawyers would come within the ambit of Section 2(1)(o) of the 1986 Act that defines "service", making them liable under the law.

"Undisputedly, lawyers are rendering service. They are charging fees. It is not a contract of personal service. Therefore, there is no reason to hold that they are not covered by the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act,1986," the consumer commission held in its 2007 judgment that was stayed by the top court in April 2009.