AIBE Update Successful Completion of the third AIBE with some protests in TN

The Third All India Bar Examination (“AIBE”) was held on January 8, 2012 in 49 centers spread over 29 cities across the country.

The Third All India Bar Examination (“AIBE”) was held on January 8, 2012 in 49 centers spread over 29 cities across the country.

The AIBE was held successfully in all the centers including the ones in Tamil Nadu where 2533 candidates appeared for the exam. Some of these candidates had been unable to take the AIBE in Chennai last year due to violent protests by law students. This year too, there were some protests at Coimbatore and 21 lawyers were arrested by the police, reports TOI.  The third AIBE was conducted amidst tight security and over 200 police personnel were deployed at the exam centers, according to IBN.

 Around 22,000 lawyers had enrolled for the third AIBE with 95% attendance across the country.

 “The AIBE has now been successfully conducted across India, including in Tamil Nadu. This measure that was brought about to raise the standards of the profession is now entrenched in the legal profession and the large number of lawyers that have undertaken the AIBE since inceptions is proof of their faith in it. On behalf of the BCI and all the SBCs, I would like to congratulate every lawyer who has written the AIBE and wish them all the very best for the way forward. We are committed to supporting lawyers and the legal profession across India and will shortly announce further reform measures and steps to modernize the Indian legal profession” stated Mr. Ashok Parija, Chairman of the Bar Council of India in a press release.

According to the press release, the BCI expects to release the results before January 31, 2012 and shall post the same on its website.

It was interesting to see the large number of people of all ages waiting to enter the various centers across the country with two books filled with colorful post - its in their hands.

There were some candidates, who had registered with the Bar Council a decade back but wrote the exam just to test their skills.

It was also interesting to see the expressions of the candidates after the exam got over. Some of the candidates looked satisfied and happy while some looked dissatisfied.

Some candidates complained that the paper was lengthy and contained grammatical errors. Some candidates found that the exam was slightly tougher in comparison to the last two exams.

Bar & Bench spoke to candidates writing the exam from various centers across India and here is what they had to say

Mohan Roy (Bangalore, pictured left): The AIBE generally was a good experience. Everything was properly organised and everything went smoothly. The question paper was simple but still I could not manage to complete the paper in time. I have my doubts as to the correctness of few questions; because for some of the questions all options were correct. I did not understand the logic behind asking such questions.

Cyriac Tom (Bangalore, pictured right): The AIBE was neither too easy nor too tough for me but I could complete the paper in time. Questions were framed in an interesting manner but some of the options given did not make any sense to me.

Murali Krishnan (Mumbai, pictured left): The AIBE this time around was not a cakewalk. If controlling the quality of the professionals entering the Bar is the object, the increasing standard of the exam is a step in the right direction. However, the organization and management of the whole process with respect to AIBE need drastic improvements.

Manjula R. S. (Cochin, pictured right): The AIBE was easy for me.  With regard to the question paper, I had some issues. For some questions all options were correct, for e.g.: When will culpable homicide amount to Murder? Four options were given and we were asked to choose the most accurate answer but the problem lies in the fact all four options were correct. So it’s seems like a blunder to ask these kind of questions. We can choose any answer we like. Similar questions were asked and we were to choose the least accurate answer. BCI needs to take very much care and caution when they draft questions in future. I felt any person with good logical reasoning could attend many of the questions not a law a graduate alone.

Suyash Singh (Delhi, pictured right):  the Exam was slightly tricky and above the standard of basic level, but this way the unwanted lawyers will get filtered out, the exam was over all good.

Chetan Razora (Delhi, pictured left):  I thought three and a half hours would be more than sufficient to complete the exam, but I was wrong, it took me one and a half hour to solve the first 15 to 20 questions, so I decided to shut my book and answer the rest of the questions to save time and in fact just randomly answered the last few questions to finish within time.