Oil And Natural Gas Commission vs Offshore Enterprises Inc. on 12 November, 1993
8. The learned counsel for the respondent relied on Oil and Natural Gas Commission V. Offshore Enterprises Inc., 1993 Bombay 217. On law there is no quarrel with the legal proposition enumerated in the said judgment. This was a case in which a lawyers' firm which was a partnership had accepted both the roles, i.e., of a constituted attorney as well as an advocate. In a partnership, apart from the relevant rules of the Bar Council of India or the Bombay High Court, to the effect that each partner of a law firm will be treated as an advocate in the case, the Partnership Act itself creates such a hurdle. In a partnership each partner is an agent of the other and, therefore, even in the absence of relevant rules of the Bar Council or a High Court, the legal consequence would be that all partners of a law firm would be deemed to be counsel in the case. The judgment of the Bombay High Court, however, has no application in the facts of the present case because the present is not a case of partnership. M/s. Lall and Sethi is not a partnership firm though the name may suggest it to be so. There is sufficient material on record or dispel the belief that it is a partnership firm. It is a sole proprietorship of Mr. Chander M.Lall. Ms.Dahlia Sen Oberoi has nothing to do with it except that she may be using the firm's address as an address for herself or she may be associating with Mr. Chander M.Lall in some legal work on a case to case basis.