Institutions cum regulators such as MCI, ICAI, Bar Council, Advertising Standards Council (ASCI), IPS and police associations, SEBI, TRAI, IRDA, CERC, DGCA and the government either remained mute spectators or connived with political executives and corporates to promote unethical and immoral practices by individual as well as employed professionals for mutual commercial gains. Unethical doctors, lawyers, CAs, company secretaries, bureaucrats, police and intelligence personnel had a field day to plunge the society into the deeper depth of corruption. All UPA-period scams were the products of ethical deficits which led to severe governance deficits. With professionals working in such globally reputed firms such as PWC, Ernst&Young and KPMC linked with unreliable corporate audit and asset valuation, there was little to expect from business, industry and the government.

Thanks to the indulgence of the UPA government, the ugly sight of large outdoor hoardings by desperate medical professionals, lawyers, educationists and stockbrokers has become a commonplace across the country covering every market – from small towns to metro cities – and every language segment through translations, dubbing and voice-over. Paid reader-style ads in news pages of popular print media listing success of surgeons by names associated with particular private hospitals or clinics are increasingly permeating the service atmosphere in a important sector such as health where scheduled drugs can’t even be sold legally without physician’s prescriptions. Similar is the case of unethical educationists hideously selling education under the tutelage of private tutorials, coaching centres and institutions spending heavily on marketing and advertising the success of their students in hi-profile career education entrance examinations and securing jobs for passing out students in pre-placements. Most television chat shows with professionals such as doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants or tax consultants and educationists are privately sponsored though viewers may be unaware of the arrangement.

The Delhi-based diabetologist who has been spending every week millions of rupees in advertising his skills and soliciting visit of rich clients at his wellness centre must be earning 100 times over from visiting patients by conducting long series of expensive tests followed by medication and peddling of devices for measuring glucose levels to blood pressure and ‘pens’ to push insulin. Diabetes is one of major killers in India. It is a mother of many serious ailments and physical disorders, involving, kidney, heart, lung, muscle and nerves. Diabetes delays the process of recovery from all ailments. Some 77.2 million people in India are estimated to suffer from pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a condition in which the patients have high blood glucose level but were not in the diabetes range. These people are at high risk of getting diabetes. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimated that the country already had around 65.1 million diabetes patients. Only China, with 98.4 million cases, has more diabetes patients globally. Treatment of diabetes is a huge business for doctors, clinics, test labs, chemists and medical devices peddlers.

The soliciting of patients through advertising by medical practitioners is prohibited except when announcement is made in the print media for starting practice, for change of address and such other purposes. For registration with the MCI, medical practitioners are required to solemnly declare that he or she would consecrate life to service of humanity; won’t misuse medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity, even under threat; won’t permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between duty and patient; would practice with conscience and dignity; would respect the secrets that are confined between patients and physicians; and would abide by the code of medical ethics as enunciated in the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2001.

The Millennium Pledge by Bar Council Members condemns soliciting of clients as a professional “misconduct”. It says: 
'While entering the new millennium, the bar council of India sharing vision for a better world, re-dedicates itself to strive for maintenance of highest standards of professional ethics, advancement of legal profession and service to humanity.' It is against an advocate’s code of ethics to solicit or advertise work, and advertising amounts to a misconduct on the part of the advocate. An advocate owes allegiance to a higher cause - that of truth and justice. He must not consciously miss-state the facts or knowingly conceals the truth or indulge in harassment of clients, sexual misconduct, bribing judges and fixing cases involving opposition lawyers and judges. Sadly, even the offices of the solicitor general and advocate general could not lift themselves beyond suspicion in government as well as corporate corruption cases such as 2G spectrum deals, coal block allocation and pricing of natural gas by RIL.

Some of the acts and omissions that constitute professional misconduct in the code for CAs include
soliciting clients for professional work either directly or indirectly; advertising his professional attainments or services; charging fee based on percentage of profit or which are contingent on the findings or results of such employment; and accepting a position as auditor in such conditions that could be constued as undercutting. 
The code under the Institute of Company Secretaries in India’s 
mission statement focuses on continuous development of high caliber professionals ensuring good corporate governance and effective management and to carry out proactive research and development activities for protection of interest of all stakeholders, thus contributing to public good.
The ICSI code says that its members must respect and comply with corporate laws, rules and regulations; not engage in manipulation or abuse privileged information; not accept gifts from persons doing business with the corporation or organisation; not exploit opportunities for personal gain through the use of organisation’s properties; maintain confidentiality of information; not engage in sexual harrassment 
and encourage ethical culture in the Institute.

In fact, there are even restrictions on the type of and font-size in nameplates that a doctor, CA and lawyer can display outside their offices or chambers. Unfortunately, few pay heed to these restrictions. They are violated at will to solicit clients due to indulgence of the authorities and regulators. Few will disagree that the blatant sacrifice of ethics by professionals for commercial and financial considerations is the main reason behind the growing governance deficit in the society and increasing corruption, black money generation, financial crimes and frauds by both individual professionals and corporates. To fight corruption and ensure “maximum governance,” the Narendra Modi government has to first crack down on unethical practices by professionals and their useless regulators. The rest will automatically follow. (IPA Service)