SC dismisses plea seeking declaration of MPs, MLAs as public servants

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The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking to declare Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as public servants.

The petition also sought to prevent MPs and MLAs from practising as lawyers in courts.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Ashok Bhushan ruled that the legislators could not be banned from practising as lawyers in courts.

Last year in October, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay had filed a similar petition in the top court seeking a ban on the legal practice by MPs, MLAs and Member of Legislative Council (MLCs).

Upadhyay had contended that allowing MPs, MLAs and MLCs to practice in a court of law amounts to the violation of the fundamental right to equality before the law as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution.

However, the apex court had dismissed the plea stating that there is no law that debars the MPs, MLAs and MLCs from practising as lawyers in court.