AIBE-XVII| Bar Council Of India Allows Candidates To Carry Downloaded Copies Of Bare Acts With 'Least' Notes

In a significant decision, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has allowed the candidates appearing for All India Bar Examination XVII (AIBE-17) on February 5 to carry downloaded copies of Bare Acts without notes (or with least notes).

A notification in this regard issued on Thursday reads thus:

"Candidates will also be allowed to carry copies of Bare Acts and downloaded copies of Acts without notes but if such copies are not available then copies of bare acts with short notes/least notes will be allowed on the basis of prayer by some candidates."

It may be noted that this notification was issued hours after the Gujarat High court on Thursday issued a notice to the BCI on a plea moved by Sunil Kumar Chavda (through Advocate Arpit R. Singhvi) seeking direction to the BCI to permit candidates to carry printouts of the Bare Acts in the AIBE 17.

The plea before the HC stated that the Candidates of AIBE 17 are facing difficulties in procuring the vernacular language of the Bare Acts as the same is not readily available in the market and also, there is a shortage of the Bare Acts in the vernacular language of the Bare Acts and the price of the vernacular language of the Bare Acts is exorbitantly high as a result of which the Petitioners are put to immense hardship.

"...as per the syllabus provided on the AIBE Website, if the student is to carry Bare Acts for the entire syllabus then estimated 84 Bare Acts would be required for the said examination, and for the same, the Petitioners would have to spend an exorbitant amount of money and also there is a shortage of publishers publishing the Bare Acts in the vernacular language.," the plea had further stated.

Having heard the plea on Thursday, the bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav had issued a notice to the BCI returnable for Friday (February 3), however, since the abovementioned notification was issued by the BCI on Thursday evening, the plea before the HC was disposed of on Friday, after taking note of the said notification.