According to the official AIBE website candidates will first have to register online for the AIBE, and from 28 April can complete their application via the website.

The website carried no information about the fees for the upcoming AIBE. Fees were increased by around 50 per cent over the previous exam, to a total of Rs 1,950 for first-time exam takers, netting a total of around Rs 6 crore with an independent contractor having being paid around Rs 2.1 crore ($378,000) of that.

“Candidates who have cleared AIBE-IV can find their ‘Certificate of Practice’ from their respective State Bar Councils from 15 May, 2013,” stated the website in respect of the 9 December 2012 exam.

A writ petition earlier this month succeeded in allowing candidates to practise provisionally until clearing the exam, after the BCI had run behind schedule in running the fourth AIBE, which took place 11 months after the third, and in publishing full results.

The BCI has not yet disclosed any statistics on the pass percentage in the fourth AIBE.

Update 24 April: A BCI official told Legally India today that the application deadline for the AIBE may be fixed as 30 May 2013.

Photo by comedynose