By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that a person holding a power of attorney but not enrolled as an advocate cannot appear in a case on behalf of another person unless permitted by a court.
The apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra in their recent order said that “a power of attorney holder cannot, unless he is an enrolled lawyer, appear in court on behalf of anyone, unless permitted by the court under Section 32 of the (Advocates) Act.”
The Section 32 of the Advocates Act says that notwithstanding anything contained in this chapter, any court, authority or person may permit any person, not enrolled as an advocate under this act to appear in a court in any particular case.
The court made it clear that a power of attorney holder could sign sale deeds, agreements and do other acts on behalf of someone else unless prohibited by the law.
The court said this while granting four weeks’ time to Goa Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to engage a lawyer to appear and argue on its behalf.
The court disallowed company employee Vishnu Karikar from appearing for it in a case.
Karikar claimed that he had the power of attorney of the petitioner company and wanted to personally argue the case on behalf of it.