Thiruvananthapuram, Nov. 7: Kerala High Court has ruled that there is no bar on priests and nuns enrolling as advocates.

The judgment came on writ petitions filed by Sister Tina Jose of Little Flower Convent, Sister Tresa and Father Thomas Puthusserry, who challenged the bar council’s decision not to enrol them as advocates because of their calling.

Justice K. Balakrishnan Nair today observed that “being a priest or a nun was not in itself a disqualification. Accepting allowances for sustenance did not come under the concept of wages that rendered one ineligible for enrolment.”

No priest or nun accepted the vocation as an employment or profession for earning a livelihood, Justice Nair said. The nuns and priests responded to the divine calling, dedicating themselves to the service of God and men. It was not a profession but a way of life with them, he added.

However, “if a priest or nun is employed as a full-time teacher or nurse then he or she may be ineligible,” the court held. In such cases, they could be asked to quit employment as a condition for enrolment, the judge observed.

In September this year, the Bar Council of India and the Kerala Bar Council had submitted before the high court that the petitioners were already engaged in a religious profession and were thus not eligible to become advocates.

The bar council enrolment committee had taken a fee of Rs 4,800 for enrolment from Sister Tina on January 16 but struck her name off the list. She had studied at the Government Law College and appeared for her final examination in 2003. Her convent, the Little Flower Convent, falls under the Kerala-headquartered Congregation of the Mother of Carmel under the Roman Catholic Church.

Sister C.T. Tresa is from the Congregation of the Medical Sisters of St Francis of Assisi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Father Thomas Puthussery is of the Roman Catholic Church from Irinjalakuda, Thrissur.

The judge said “there is no bar in this section of people to work in government or semi-government organisations. Moreover, the manner in which they (the nuns and priests) have conducted themselves all these years in the profession has been great.”

The enrolment applications should be disposed of within a month. The eligibility would hinge on the time required to discharge the duties as a priest or a nun.

Reacting to the ruling, bar council counsel T.A. Shaji, however, said: “An appeal against this verdict is likely to come up before the division bench of the high court.” The question of whether the engagements of a parish priest could be regarded as full-time employment could be examined by the bar council.

Priests and nuns have been practising as lawyers in various courts in the country. Among them is Sister Mary Aemilianus, 76, of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary at Balaramapuram, near Thiruvananthapuram.