P & H High Court: Petition against Bar exam: CJ recuses, State Bar Council Chairman resigns

Bar & Bench News Network

Jun 29, 2010

A law graduate from Nalsar has challenged the decision of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to impose the Bar exam on students graduating in the academic year of 2009-2010.

There have been several Public Interest Litigations (PIL) and petitions against the BCI’s decision to conduct Bar exams from this year. The petitioner, Fatehpal Singh, a graduate of the 2010 batch had enrolled on June 2, 2010 before the rules were displayed on the BCI website.

The contention of the petitioner is that by virtue of enrolment, he has a right to appear in any Court or Tribunal under the Advocates Act, 1961 and a rule cannot take away this right. The BCI has powers to make rules only regarding pre-enrolment qualifications. The petitioner is not challenging the Bar Exam per se, but is only challenging the rule which does not entitle him to practice till clearing the Bar exam.

Fatehpal Singh is currently working with Senior Advocate Sanjay Bansal in Chandigarh. Sanjay Bansal is also the Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of four students in a separate writ petition which challeneged the decision of the BCI to conduct the Bar exam.

Fatehpal is also contending that litigating lawyers are at a disadvantage when compared to law firm recruitees as they are not allowed to appear till the Bar exams are completed and therefore have to wait an additional six months for drawing their first salary or fees.

The matter was listed before the Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal of the Punjab & Haryana High Court. Sources indicate that the Chief Justice had to recuse himself as the Chairman of the BCI, Gopal Subramanium had sought his opinion and views before the implementation of the Bar exam.

The matter now will now be posted before a separate bench.

In a separate turn of events, the Chairman of the Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana has resigned in protest against the implementation of the Bar exam.

Bar & Bench spoke to the Chairman, Partap Singh Saran (pictured).

On his resignation:

I have resigned in protest of the BCI’s rule to conduct the Bar exam. BCI is our mother body and it is inappropriate to protest against a decision of the body, while being a part of it. Therefore I decided to quit in protest of the Bar exam.

Also, the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana has already passed a resolution opposing this rule of the BCI to conduct the Bar Exam.

We are vehemently opposed to the appointment of a private body, Rainmaker to conduct the Bar exam. What is the basis of their selection? Have they conducted any exams? The Bar exam must be conducted by a government body. Even in the west, most bar exams are conducted by a government body and no private player engages in this process. In this case, there was no resolution passed, there was no hearing on oppositions to appointing Rainmaker as the body to conduct the exam. This is the first time an exam on such a scale has been planned. Can this private institution display expertize to demonstrate that they have handled examinations at such a large scale?

Views on the legal education system:

Law colleges are mushrooming all over the place. The BCI should take an active interest in reforming the legal education system in the country. There should be periodic inspections of law colleges and the state bar councils have to taken an active part in this process. By merely conducting a Bar exam, they (BCI) will not be able to improve the quality of the system. The exam is an open book exam and is a farce test and you cannot judge the quality of lawyers.

Comments(27)

1. "Pratap, Is your fight against bar exam or rainmaker conducting bar exam? I can understand the latter, but former should not be an issue unless you want low quality people entering legal profession. it is in our long term interest to have bar exams. All countries with bar exams have only benefited from bar exams. Choose your battles properly before being influenced by the mob mentality. ". Abhijit, Delhi
2. "Go Fatehpal, you are the king!! Band baja de sabki!". Saurav Das, Delhi
3. "Great to see Nalsar guys take on the bar exam farce run by NLS alumni. I hear that the Rainmaker has only NLS guys in it, I hear one more NLS grad has been appointed as some examiner. BCI, please hear the grievances of all people and dont listen to only a bunch of elite people. We are ok with the bar exams being conducted. BUt the manner in which this was done is appalling. If Bar Councils had to introduce bar exam, then why was it not discussed at relevant forums and why only a select few have a say in everything. ". Jolly, Delhi
4. "rainmaker (aka LST) is going to launch a tutorial for the bar exam. isn't that conflict of interest? there needs to be an enquiry into hwo they got the contract for the bar exam.however, i am surprised to see students from the NLUs oppose the exam. they are supposed to be the brightest of the lot. ". Guest, 2edab
5. "if the BCI is serious enough for Bar Exam, it should urge the government to table a Bill in coming Monsoon session incorporating appropriate amendments in the Advocates’ Act in this regard. Until Bar Exam is held, fresh law graduates may be asked to undergo pre-enrolment apprenticeship, the provision for which should also be made in the Bill. The aforesaid amendment legislation must be passed well before the December this year when the exam is scheduled to be held. A draft of such amendment Bill has already been proposed by Law Commission in its 184th report on Legal Education (2002). Anything less than an amendment could result in SC striking off the concept of Bar exam as was evident in case of BCI prescribing maximum age for enrolment of advocate license as 45 years (1995). Hope the new BCI chief, Gopal Subramaniam, as well as Union Law Minister, M Verappa Moily, both of whom themselves seasoned legal practitioners, would ensure taming all possible legal hiccups before launching their agenda of legal reforms. ". HEMANT KUMAR ADVOCATE, AMBALA CITY HARYANA
6. "Such decision is straight way a challenge to the standards of education adopted by the Universities. If there is any lack in standards govt. must take steps to improve the standards. In case any institution in not following the standards the institution must be deregistered and such type of decision for conducting exam for practice may lead the frustration & demotivate the students against the studies. BCI in neither paying any salary nor any financial help to advocates. It merely provide the practice certificate and in case if any advocate is below standard he himself is rejected by the clients. Hence BCI must have to think over its decision again. If there is any monetary interest for fee collection for test can also be collected directly. ". Sunil Dutt Bhardwaj, Sonepat - Haryana
7. "Bci exam is not going to improve the quality of lawyers in any way. I am in 5yrs course from last 5yrs we are giving exams, studied all the subjects in detail and given the exams now again we have to give again all the papers in the form of this BCI exam. There should be improvement in the teachers of law colleges.". Mayuri Gaikwad, Mumbai
8. "do read gopal subramaniam's comment on legally india's story on this issue". Guest, Nasik
9. "[Edited]". Guest, Hyderabad
10. "I have passed out in 2009 and have already started my practise at mumbai.I utterly fail to understand the need of forcing such exams on passed out students.there are several students who study years together,hours together to clear their courses and somehow manage to get through.One cannot expect a person who has cleared his exams,enrolled as an advocate,to again study to give another exam.And what will be the faith,if he fails to clear?How can some B.C.I exam decide who has to practise and who cannot?How can it decide the capacity and capability of a lawyer?Has nobody heard of a student failing 6 to 7 times in a perticular subject,and yet becoming a wellknown advocate?How can one forsee what a student would be after a few years?I suggest to conduct tougher exams during the law couse itself,ifB.C.I is of opinion that the one who succeeds in such exams only can shine as a lawyer.". Ashwini.gadgil, Mumbai
11. "It is quite saddening that such a poor response is there from so many people with respect to the Bar Exam which clearly is a much required necessity considering how people have been acquiring law degrees from colleges all over India.If 5 year law graduates complain, they should know that various other students become advocates every year from 5 year and 3 year law colleges without attending classes or reading a single word and become the so called professionals providing poor advice and reducing the faith of the common man in the system. Lawyers truly are hated for a reason. Moreover, I see many anti social elements entering the profession because its is so ludircously easy to crack the system. Clearly it is practically difficult to deal with the University system especially after privatisation of the same. The bar exam is a much needed solution and will definitely benefit in the long run. Please also realise most common law countries provide for a bar exam after studying law and a law graduate does not equal to a practising lawyer. ". Nikhil, Jaipur
12. "i sincerely do request also that all critics arguing on legal points should kindly re-examine the judgment of V Sudeer V. BCI by Supreme Court again. The apex court clearly held that "post-enrollment" the BCI had the right to impose conditions on the right to practise in accordance with section 49(1)(ah). They discussed the history where earlier a similar provision had existed pre enrollment but was removed on recommendation of the BCI at that time in section 24(1)(d). Moreover, enrollment and right to practise are two different concepts considering that CHapter III of the Act deals with the former and Chapter IV deals with the latter. I am sure the move by our country's solicitor general approved by the law minister would not be considered to be without proper legal research on the issue. ". Nikhil, Jaipur
13. "The NLS grad who is the examiner is also a Harvard law School Graduate. So please know your facts before accusing anyone of elitism and favouritism.". Cauvery, Bangalore
14. "Are you sure that this examiner is a HLS graduate? Please check your facts before commenting". @cauvery, Delhi
15. " All india Bar ExaminationBci exam is not going to improve the quality of lawyers in India if Bar council of india is serious enough to conduct the All india Bar Exam he should tabled the Bill First.The decision of the Bar Examination is directly the Challenge to the Quality of Education by the Universities". Ashutosh Shukla, Korba
16. "I think there is no harm to conduct bar examination before becomming Practising Lawyear.Any law graduate is sincereand serious to enter into legal practice won't be afraid to sit in the said examination. We should not make it issue on this subject.". Jibak, Mumbai
17. "it really takes me a back to know that academic excellence ( exam which is very mucha academic stuff rather tha any praticle training)will now be the parameter of judging who shall be granted permission to practice and who not. It seems that some people seems to be in fabour of it... but any experianced lawyer will be vouch under hand that practice and academincs does'nt go together. Those persons are not to be blamed for supporting this motion.... as they lack this special knowledge.". Ravi, Kolkata
18. "By taking a AIBE is become another harrassment for students, if you want to imporve the education field, then chairman of BCI should visit each & every law college & each & every court to see the level of the advocates - only decision for bar examination is not proper to harrass the students.". Santosh Chavan, Mumbai
19. "It is very good to conduct AIBE to the law graduates to improve quality in legal profession. It is the duty of the BCI to educate the law studens about the AIBE exam. In this case the 2009-10 batch studens who went to attend the final semister exam informed about the AIBE exam by the BCI. Due to which all the students of this year felt in ambiguity and they does't know about the pattern of exam and they has not mentally prepared for this, as such the BCI should exempt this year students from attending exam.". Mohammed Mushtaq Ahmed, Hyderabad
20. "It's rediculous BCI is imposing examination before legal practice for Law Graduate. It has no valid reason or practical purpose for conducting this examination after passing of final year law. I vouch that some compulsory paper of practical approach akin to practice should be introduced in final year of law beside Cr.P.C/C.P.C and Indian Evidence Act. It is therefore justified for filing a writ petition against this decision .Cell : 09821185470". Advocate Majumdar, Mumbai
21. "The BCI playing cheap tricks again just to harass the law students by conducting the AIBE exam. The BCI could not get the exact result of improving quality in advocacy. The BCI has to improve the studies in college and University levels they can get good results.". Pole Vishnu, Hyderabad
22. "I dont kn how many years of experiance is Mr. Abhijit having in this legal field...if he is atall in this field.... But Mr. Abhijit plz try to understand a exam will not change the quality...if it would have done than many exams we have cleared to get this LLB degree......wont that be enough.....and do u think by executing the exam from 2010 batch will fetch any result...if real steps are to be taken .... gv it retrospective effect". Lex Suprema, Kolkata
23. "PARTAP YOU HAVE GREAT PARTAP IN YOU I SUPPORT YOU WHOLE HEARTEDLY . I SHALL WRITE IN DETAIL AFTER ENROLEMENT TOMMORROW. I AM BEING HARRASSED BY BAR COUNCIL OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA, I AM INTERESTED TO MEET YOU . PLEASE GIVE ME TIME AND ADDRESS TO MEET YOU ON MY TELEPHONE NUMBER 09041938642----- VED". VED PARKASH, CHANDIGARH
24. "we are also fighting against all india bar exam please contact us at 09610427035". Jinesh, Ajmer
25. "Today 22/09/2010 is the day the case is to be decided in the SC. If unfortunately SC decides the case in favour of BCI, then other statutory bodies "Institute of Chartered Accountants", "Medical council of India" "Institute of Chartered Engineers" etc. shall come forward to make rule to conduct such exams before issuing certificate of enrollment to MBBS Doctors, Charteraed Accountants and Engineers. " Hon'able Judges Please please plesae think of it before deciding the case". Shaikh Naeemuddin, Aurangabad Maharashtra
26. "i am also against this bar council examination. my question is why the bar council is conducting the exam unnecessary for which the student have already passed?if passing this entrance exam there will be two types of advocates?if the exam is open book system then why to conduct on same subject?why the barcouncil put condition after passing?i have great enthuasim after passing but because of this decision i am unable to practice , i lost my valuable one year now my junior are ready to give exam with me? the bar council is waisting the time of students who passed the llb examintation.". Shaikh Naeemuddin, Aurangabad Maharashtra
27. "i want to status of the case cwp-2591-2010". Arvind , (Unknown City? Faridabad

Post Your Comment


	Thank you. Comments are subject to moderation.