Delhi High Court Asks BCI To File Status Report On Having A ‘Pre-Set Schedule’ For All India Bar Examination

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Bar Council of India (BCI) to submit a further status report on having a "pre-set schedule" for conduct of All India Bar Examination (AIBE).

Justice Prathiba M Singh was apprised by counsel appearing for BCI that the AIBE 2023 examination has been scheduled to be held on February 5 and the results are expected to be released before April.

The court last month directed the BCI to inform it about the next scheduled date of AIBE examination which was conducted last on October 30, 2021. It had also asked the council to consider having a pre-set schedule for the exam so that the uncertainty regarding the dates of the biannual examination can be resolved and provisionally enrolled advocates can prepare accordingly.

During the course of hearing today, BCI’s counsel apprised the court that a resolution was passed by the council on December 30, 2022, along with a notification setting out the schedule for upcoming AIBE examination.

Perusing the same, the court noted thus:

“A perusal of the notification for the examination show that it is to be held on February 5, 2023. The resolution also records that the results will be released before April 2023 and thus the entire period of 31 October 2022 to April 2023 has been exempted by BCI from being counted for the time period of 2 years [from Rule 9 of All India Bar Examination Rules].”

The Rule states that no advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act, 1961 shall be entitled to practise unless such advocate successfully passes AIBE exam conducted by BCI. The exam is to be cleared by an advocate who is provisionally enrolled within two years.

Regarding the direction of having a pre-set schedule for the exam, counsel for BCI also submitted that the same would be taken into and consideration by the council in its next meeting.

“List on May 4 in order to enable the BCI to file a further status report,” the court ordered while deferring the matter.

The court was dealing with a plea moved by a lawyer Nishant Khatri who got enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) on 19 November, 2019. It was his plea that he ought not be debarred from practicing in courts due to non conduct of AIBE examination.

Considering the delay in conduct of the examination, Justice Singh had earlier clarified that the petitioner-lawyer would not be debarred or disqualified from continuing to rely upon his provisional registration and appearing before the courts till further orders.

Title: Nishant Khatri v. BCI