The Bar Council of India (BCI) will be holding an emergency meeting on July 9 to re-think the first-ever All India Bar Exam (AIBE) which has been scheduled on December 5.

The BCI is facing several writ petitions and PILs on its decision to conduct AIBE for all students from the academic year 2009-2010.  Apart from the writ petitions, several Bar Councils also have opposed this AIBE. Last week, Punjab & Haryana Chairman, Partap Singh Saran resigned, on the stake of the implementation of the AIBE. 

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 2, headed by Justice M.M. Kumar, issued notices to the BCI, Union of India and Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana over a petition challenging the recent decision of the BCI that fresh law graduates will have to pass the AIBE to join the legal profession.

Leading Hindi Daily, Dainik Bhaskar has reported that the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council has taken a firm stand against the AIBE. Rameshwar Neekhra, Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council, in a meeting on July 3 said, “The law students are facing a dilemma, of waiting for 8 months for the Bar exam (AIBE) and thereafter appearing and passing in it to get a license. The BCI and the State Bar Councils should take this matter seriously”.

The Indian Express has reported that in the meeting on July 3, Rameshwar Neekhra, Chairperson of the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council said, “Once the licence has been issued, how can we check or prevent any lawyer from practising in a District Court? The exam, if it has to be conducted, should be done before the licence is issued. Also, we asked the BCI to first bring in a unified syllabus for legal education and also de-list / derecognise law colleges that don’t have proper infrastructure”.

Stakeholder reactions

Vivek K. Tankha, Additional Solicitor General of India (Supreme Court) says, “In my personal opinion, we are experiencing a lot of difficulties because of the Bar exam, which came up all of a sudden. It was late for the 2010 batch of law students as they passed their annual final year law course exams in the month of May this year and will have nothing to do for the next six months. Firstly, I fully support the idea of an AIBE. What I am concerened is about the time of this exam, instead of having it in December, the BCI should move it to June so that the students will not be unemployed for months. Secondly, the AIBE should be state specific as we cannot have a Bangalore (National Law Universities) standard as this might result having a 5 to 10 percent pass rate.  Thirdly, before the implementation of AIBE, there should have been a larger consultation with all the stake holders, a national consensus should have been arrived at before declaring AIBE. The decision has been taken in haste and people are unhappy about it”.

Speaking with Bar & Bench before the Madhya Pradesh State Bar Council's meeting convened, Ravi Nandan Singh, Ex Advocate General of Madhya Pradesh said, “We have not yet passed a resolution regarding the Bar exam. This exam should not be held as the students of the 2010 batch are not prepared for it. The proper procedure is to send an order, get public opinion and then a legislation. Intellectuals should be involved. Students who were deciding to go for litigation or corporate sector, are now facing this hindrance of six months for the exam. This is not well thought of and has not been done with a proper exchange of ideas. It should go to the caste section of the society and conducted properly with awareness”.

The Indian Express quoted, Nitin Ahlawat, the Secretary of the Bar Council of Delhi who said “We are going to meet on July 8 to take a final decision on the matter. But, the predominant view among the members of the Bar Council of Delhi is that the BCI move is ill-advised and arbitrary. There is so much confusion. We have already received enrollment applications from over 1,000 law graduates... How can we ask them to take the exam after they are issued licences?”

Speaking with Bar & Bench, the President of the National Delegation of Law Students Siddharth S.Seth said, “Time and again we have been saying that law students throughout the country will welcome any reforms to strengthen and upgrade our legal profession. But we will not allow policies which are unplanned, unsystematic and are implemented without due consultation among the members of this fraternity. The National Delegation last week approached several legal luminaries and also the Chairmen of several State Bar Councils. We are extremely thankful to all the State Bar Councils who have raised our concern before the BCI. We stand firm in our strategy and if within three weeks the Union Law Ministry and BCI do not call off the hastily announced National Bar Exam scheduled to take place on December 5, we will not only approach the Hon’ble Supreme Court seeking justice but will also resort to widespread peaceful agitation throughout the country. We are confident that the National Bar Exam will not take place on December 5, 2010”.

The National Delegation of Law Students has given 3 weeks notice to Law Minister, Veerappa Moily and the Bar Council of India in their latest press release.