A collective of Indian lawyers has accused 31 foreign law firms of practising law illegally in India, while simultaneously criticising the Indian government for failing to act on the alleged illegal practice.

A writ petition filed with the Madras High Court on 18 March names a number of high-profile UK and US law firms, accusing them among other things of ‘conducting arbitration in Indian hotels [for which] payments are made to their head office located outside India’, in violation of Indian law.

The writ, filed on behalf of the Association of Indian Lawyers, alleges that there are ‘numerous foreign law firms that are draining our Indian legal market’ and ‘treating it as a business venture, a trade and a money ­spinner rather than a noble profession which is intended to serve the society and the social cause’.

Magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Linklaters, and City firms Norton Rose and Herbert Smith, are among the 31 named in the writ petition. All four firms declined to comment on the allegations. Legal process outsourcing company Integreon, which is also named, said the petition was ‘without merit’ and it does not practise law ‘in any jurisdiction’.

The writ petition accuses the Indian government of ‘remaining mute spectators without taking appropriate action against the erring foreign law firms’.

It has been filed after a Bombay High Court decision in December reiterated that foreign law firms cannot practise law in India. Shortly after that decision, City firm Ashurst shut its Delhi liaison office, which it opened in 1994. Ashurst said the office did not practise law.