AIBE-XVII- BCI Constitutes Fact Finding Committee To Look Into The Allegations Of Misleading And Cheating Some Candidates

The Bar Council of India (BCI) constituted a Fact Finding Committee to unravel the truth relating to the newspaper reports in Gujarat regional newspapers published on 6th February, regarding the involvement of Advocate Jignesh Joshi and others in misleading and cheating some candidates who appeared for the AIBE-XVII at Rajkot on 5th February 2023. 

The General Council of the Bar Council of India by virtue of a resolution dated 6th February by way of circulation has constituted the Fact-Finding Committee. 

The Fact-Finding Committee has been set up to examine the CCTV footage in order to find out the persons involved in this malpractice.

The Three Member Committee shall be headed by Justice J. Upadhyay, former Judge of Gujarat High Court and Jayant B. Jaibhave, a Member of the Bar Council of India and Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, Director of Gujarat National Law University shall be the members.

"The Committee is requested to submit its report to the Chairman of Bar Council of India within 7 days from the date of receipt of the intimation", the press release issued by the BCI dated 7th February reads.

According to BCI, from the bare comparison and examination of the answer tally reported in the media which was alleged to be supplied to the examinees by Advocate Jignesh Joshi, the factum of leakage of the answer sheet or use of unfair means appears to be untrue. However, prima facie it is established that Advocate Jignesh Joshi and his companions had tried to mislead some of the young Advocates appearing for the exam under the false pretext of supplying them with answers on their WhatsApp Group through mobile. 

"This has been done by Advocate Jignesh Joshi in order to serve his self-interest in an attempt to procure their votes in the election of Bar Association. It transpires that out of 28 answers supplied to the candidates, 21 answers are wrong. In this way, Advocate Jignesh Joshi has tried to mislead and entice the candidates to cheat. However, the use of mobile for this purpose by some of the Advocates in exam hall, is a very serious matter. Usage of mobiles is not allowed during AIBE," reads the press release. 

Furthermore, if the fact of any sort of use of unfair means is established, appropriate disciplinary and other legal action will be taken by the Bar Council of India against the guilty persons.