The Bar Council of India informed the Supreme Court that a practicing advocate is prohibited from simultaneously working as a full-time journalist, citing the restriction under Rule 49 of the BCI Rules of Conduct.

A bench consisting of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih had previously sought the Bar Council of India's stance on whether an advocate can also work as a full-time journalist. The bench raised this issue while hearing a petition filed by an advocate, who was working as a freelance journalist, seeking the quashing of a defamation case.

Today, the BCI's counsel informed the bench, "They cannot practice law and simultaneously also be an accredited journalist."

The counsel for the petitioner stated that the petitioner would not work as a journalist, either full-time or part-time, and was solely focused on practicing law.

"The Bar Council of India has taken a stand that it is not permissible for an advocate to do full-time journalism," the bench recorded in the order.

Further, the Court took an undertaking from the petitioner that he would refrain from the field of journalism, whether full-time or part-time.

The next date of hearing is February 2025.