March,2,2016: A day after questioning Bar Council of India’s authority to conduct All India Bar Examination (AIBE), the Supreme Court today said it was not averse to any exam to test the capability of law graduates in the “interest of betterment of the profession” but only wanted to verify if the AIBE was within the “parameters of law”.
A day after questioning Bar Council of India’s authority to conduct All India Bar Examination (AIBE), the Supreme Court today said it was not averse to any exam to test the capability of law graduates in the “interest of betterment of the profession” but only wanted to verify if the AIBE was within the “parameters of law”.
Chief Justice T S Thakur made this observation while considering the petition filed by Nagabushana challenging the AIBE. As per the existing rules, a law graduate has to clear All India Bar Examination (AIBE) conducted by Bar Council of India to be eligible to practice.
">Stating that such exams have a salutary effect on ensuring only the bright enter the profession, the CJI said, “Only those who score high in their science subjects and entrance exams become doctors or engineers. Its not like that in legal profession. Every law graduate becomes a lawyer. Law graduates need not get such a free ride. We don’t want half-baked lawyers. We have to make sure that even the most junior of the Advocates is good enough to ensure that justice is done."
"We already have two million lawyers. 60,000 new one enter the profession every year. Out of that around 2000 are from National Law Universities. What about the remaining 58,000? Any further addition should be based on merit and talent. Just because you have a law degree should not mean you have become a lawyer," the CJI noted.
The bench yesterday asked BCI whether it had statutory backing to conduct AIBE. The CJI said a committee appointed by the SC had recommended amendments to the Advocates Act before conducting such an examination. But BCI went ahead with the AIBE merely on the basis of a resolution.
The bench clarified that it was not against holding the examination per se. “But without an amendment to the Advocates Act, can BCI hold the examination?” it asked.
The bench posted the petition before a three judge bench for detailed hearing next Friday.
The Law Commission of India, in its 184th report to the government in 2002, had recommended amendment of the UGC Act for setting up a ‘Legal Education Committee’ and amendment of the Advocates Act to set up a similar committee by the BCI.
The commission had recommended that “a law graduate shall get training from advocates having 10 years experience in courts and should also qualify bar exam before being allowed to practice”.
However, the BCI, under the chairmanship of then solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam, passed a resolution to conduct AIBE and went ahead with it from 2010.
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