BCI’s All India Bar Exam date pushed by another 2+ months to 2021 (obviously)

Thursday, 22 October 2020 By Legally India Graduates & Bar Exam

All India Bar Exam 15 has yet another new timetable

The 15th All India Bar Exam (AIBE) has been postponed yet again, this time to early 2021.

Online registrations for AIBE XV, which is held in physical test centres, have been extended to 3 December 2020, with the exam slated for 24 January 2021, according to a notification of the BCI on the AIBE web site.

Even in non-pandemic days the BCI’s compulsory AIBE was very rarely held on time so precisely no one will be surprised by the latest postponement in the midst of continuing national and global Covid-19 mayhem.

And although the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) had pulled off a bigger physical exam than the AIBE, the BCI does not seem like the type to consider alternative ways of holding the exam.

However, this total six-month delay now may leave 2020 graduates keen to practice in the courts in a bit of a lurch, seeing as technically having passed the exam within two years of graduation is obligatory before being allowed to do practise. Then again, no courts are fully operational these days and who knows whether the AIBE requirements will be completely enforced at this time.

Correction 18:41: As pointed out by a commenter, the BCI has passed a one-year amnesty this year until 31 March 2021 about passing the exam.

The exam was originally scheduled for 16 August but was postponed indefinitely in July 2020.

Then, in August, a tentative new date was announced for 8 November 2020.

bar exam Bar Council of India (BCI)

Comments

Louis Litt 22 Oct 2020, 06:04

+7 -1

It's not correct to say that one can't practice without the AIBE. One can, for upto two years from the date of enrolment. The people who had enrolled in 2019 and had chosen to skip the last AIBE will be in a bigger lurch than the 2020 folks, given that their 2 years will run out soon.

Pearson J. 22 Oct 2020, 09:07

+2 -0

The BCI has essentially exempted one year, granting an additional year to the folks who enrolled in 2019. I wanted to attach the link to this comment, but as usual the Bar Council of India's website won't load.

not true 22 Oct 2020, 09:14

+2 -0

AIBE has said that this year won’t count for the purposes of the 2 years http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Certified-Copy-of-GC-Order-dated-09.08.2020-under-Item-No.353-of-2020-regarding-AIBE.pdf

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 07:51

Contested

+2 -18

What about NUJS guys? Apparently, BCI had given affiliation till 2010-2011 academic session. No one from NUJS renewed it despite BCI reminders following the implementation of the Rules of Legal Education 2008. The VC sent out an email to a student recently when she got in trouble with Jharkhand State Bar Council. The VC later circulated a certification from BCI (dated Sep 3, 2020) that BCI has given affiliation for 2019-20 to 2023-24 academic sessions. But what about those who graduated between 2011-12 to 2018-19 academic sessions? A certain faculty member and confidant of VC claimed that relevant documents will be released by the VC on Monday to shut down doubting Thomases. Still waiting.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 08:53

+9 -4

If you were actually part of the alumni instead of a trouble-mongerer who is just out to malign others on hearsay, you would have already had access to those documents including the one from 2013 onwards. Those have been circulated in the very alumni groups where the claim had been made. It is clear that your legal career is as deeply sunk as your ability to conduct diligence, which is why you expose yourself as a doubting jacka** instead of a doubting Thomas. Guess your khabri isn't keeping you properly updated.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:09

+1 -8

I am a troll etc. Why bother responding when I am supposedly spreading canards? And since the relevant documents have already been made available in various WhatsApp groups etc, why not share it here? I mean we all got droned to death with Turnitin reports of a particular Prof's doctoral thesis that ran foul with your plagiarism meter.

It's Kian's choice why he finds you persuasive. You really don't have to engineer the down votes.

I only said that someone had loudly claimed and personally assured that certain BCI documents will become available on Monday and other related claims. I merely stated that its Thursday today and the only BCI documents that I have are: (1) a BCI list last updated till Dec 2019 which shows that NUJS had affiliation till 2010-11 academic session with no mention of the number of undergraduate seats allowed; and (2) BCI certification dated Sep 3, 2020, which states that NUJS has been granted affiliation from 2019-20 to 2023-24 academic session.

The other valuable document is a letter circulated by the VC which claims that BCI has given affiliation from 2013-14 to 2023-24 academic sessions but there is no supporting documentation (yet) for 2013-14 to 2018-19. Btw what about 2012-13?

Just troll me back with the relevant documents when the dear VC gives them to you.

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 11:53

+0 -0

Don't agree with you there, mate. Still think admin was lousy for having allowed this to happen in the first place, but two documents, one for 2019 onwards as you mentioned and another for 2013-18, have been shared in the groups. You can get it from there if you are a part of any. AA hasn't shared any officially yet though, you are bang on about that bit.

Hurt Locker 23 Oct 2020, 11:16

+1 -0

Documents were not made available but someone retired "hurt"

Trollhunter 22 Oct 2020, 09:12

+7 -1

This troll maintains a close watch on every single post and tries to squeeze NUJS in everywhere in the comments and start his rona-dhona. I dub thee 'Noojiekihalwa'.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:13

+1 -0

Why did someone cave in when called out? Sentimental note does not fool everyone. Also why build "distance" now?

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 11:14

+0 -2

Seriously VCo, you are still refreshing and downvoting? Thanks for the attention.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 08:52

Contested

+1 -5

Woah. How did you miss this scoop, Kian? Seriously what are both BCI and NUJS doing? Does this mean that all those NUJS students between 2011-12 and 2018-19 who got the license to practice got so without proper checks by the state bar councils? How could BCI then take action against other law colleges and universities and not NLUs? Name dropping did the trick? DU Law students suffered so much for "lack of BCI affiliation". What explains this discrimination?

Wow 22 Oct 2020, 10:14

+0 -1

You mean that nujs students should also suffer because DU students suffered, so that there is no discrimination.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 12:57

+1 -1

Nope. It means that BCI engages in cherry picking and masks extraneous considerations. For example, why would it engage in pitched battles with DU Law, Jamia Law etc but give a free pass to several NLUs? Just because there are "weighty GB members" in NLUs? But having those venerable folks hasn't really saved the NLU lot from the blushes.

It also means that BCI drive to weed out "fake lawyers and degree holders" is itself a sham. What is laughable is that a BCI team comes to do inquiries in NUJS and fails to detect that the university did not even have BCI affiliation! This among numerous examples elsewhere underlines that BCI is a joke when it comes to its role as a regulator or legal education.

Maybe with the Bihar elections done, the Atmanirbhar govt will find courage and political space to effect regime change in BCI. Not that HECI is going to be any different from a dressed up UGC.

Manan Mishra 22 Oct 2020, 13:02

+3 -1

Because it's no scoop. It's just one of the many common irregularities of the BCI under Manan Mishra.

http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/List-of-Law-Colleges-having-approval-by-the-BCI.pdf

If you check the list, most of the NLUs including NLSIU, NUJS, GNLU, HNLU etc donot have an affiliation currently. New rules specify renewal every 5 years but no one does.

What else can you expect of a 'professional' organisation which does not even have a complete list of members under it?

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:32

+5 -0

Completely agree. But it also tells a lot about a self-preservation society called CLAT Consortium (in various avatars). They charge a bomb and dish out prospectus that makes no mention, which of the member NLUs have up-to-date BCI affiliation. The member NLUs do not sport the relevant BCI certification on their websites. The SC judges who chair the governing boards are clueless and do not mind. The VCs have a field day running their fiefs under the benign shelter of the powers that be. Maybe we are in an unpublished Kafka piece.

BCI gave us another Mishra. The Iron Judge

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:37

+2 -0

NALSAR too. MNLU Aurangabad is not even in the list, how so?

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:43

+1 -0

Are you saying that because this is business-as-usual at BCI therefore why bother? You are right because that's how unsuspecting students teemed into NLUs lacking BCI affiliation; graduated and many built up good practices as well. Then someone got flagged by a certain state bar council. Maybe there are others too, which never got reported (because this is no scoop compared to what we get as "breaking news" here or elsewhere).

And because this is really nothing, admin lapses go unreported and unpunished and soon we have entrenched institutional cultures of extractive NLU administrations. As they say, all things begin small.

This really isn't anything.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:23

+0 -0

Kian, before you red/pink etc flag, why not do some independent dekko?

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 13:36

+0 -1

Kian does not miss anything. He suffers from info pandemic and maybe overwhelmed by the loudest voices. His choice.

RaaOne 22 Oct 2020, 09:37

+0 -0

BCI should push the date to Jan 2094.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 09:43

+0 -1

I don't understand why the BCI can't just request the Central Government to conduct the AIBE for them. JEE Mains, JEE Advanced and NEET were conducted as smoothly as they possibly could be in coronavirus times. Surely the Government will be able to come up with some sort of a plan to wrap up AIBE as well.

The BCI's stranglehold over legal education and the legal profession in India needs to be diluted a bit imho. The Government must play a bigger role in legal education especially. And the dumb opposition to foreign law firms needs to end. If Indian lawyers can qualify for practice in England & Wales, U.S., etc., then British and American lawyers should be allowed to do the same. The legal sector needs liberalisation and the Government has a duty to implement it.

UC 22 Oct 2020, 10:15

+2 -0

Why would BCI be interested in running the risk of conducting the exam in COVID and having to take extra precautions? They will get the exam fees no matter when they hold it. That is the only thing they are interested in. Look at the standard of exam. Almost everyone clears it. You have to work hard to flunk it.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 11:46

+0 -0

Considering that most of the university in the country yet not conducted final year exams for llb stream and/or llb results are yet to be anouced in many cases, the date of AIBE application be extended till January, 2021 by this time it expected that all universities will be able to declare results. In alternate students persuing final year should be allowed to apply for AIBE on provisional basis in wake of Covid 19 pandemic.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 12:29

+0 -2

Radio silence from LI on CLAT rankers selection and 12 students ditching NLSIU (highest ever).

Dumdum 22 Oct 2020, 13:49

+0 -1

12/120 is nothing. Its always 10%
You should rather worry about NALSAR and NUJS cutoffs falling drastically.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 14:00

+1 -0

Kian should follow up on the BCI education scam (permits to random colleges) and the scam of Manan Mishra becoming de facto chairman for life using law minister RS Prasad and others from Bihar lobby.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 14:00

+3 -1

I have a job offer from a Tier 1 law firm. I am the topper of my batch at a tier 1 NLU. There are reasonable chances that I will get selected at a premier English/US law school for LLM (Cambridge/NYU etc.). I, however, wish to go for the subordinate judiciary. Work-life balance is a priority in my life, I cannot work for extraordinary long hours. I talked to a few aspirants and they told me that if someone gets selected at a young age (23 to 25), he/she will most likely be elevated to high court towards the end of his/her judicial career (which seems to be great and significant). Some others say that judiciary is for mediocre students. I am so confused and have none to actually guide me. Could you all plz share your views on what would you have done if you had been in my shoes

Try it 22 Oct 2020, 15:11

Featured

+3 -1

If that's what you really want to do, you could try it out for a few years and see what it's like. As long as you keep in touch with your referees and try to do other things like publishing/ lecturing alongside, it should only add to your chances of getting into a premier institution with a scholarship. If you're doing it with the hope of being elevated, that's a pretty big chance to take. The question is whether you like the job and can handle the system/ atmosphere within which you work. If you plan an exit option into it, you might be able to try it out and see. And if decades of that job seem like too much, you might go study/ litigate. It's smart to think outside the box and not just do what all your classmates are doing.

Studenttt 22 Oct 2020, 15:42

+0 -0

Well, thank you! I honestly appreciate your opinion.

Coolboy 23 Oct 2020, 02:39

+0 -0

I am not sure but are judges allowed to teach? I thought that they arent allowed to do any other job once they sign up for judgship.

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 11:12

+0 -1

Wrong. Iron Judges interpret law. Commoners follow the law. And judges, Iron or not, are Uncommon. That's how NLUs are an uncommon breed. BCI affiliation rules are for others.

Randomiser 22 Oct 2020, 18:30

+0 -1

I really hope this message was written by ppp. If it's you, I hope you do well man.

Guest 22 Oct 2020, 14:54

+1 -1

Fuck BCI, it is very slag in its functioning. They should be abolished or the Aibe exam is. UPSC and NEET exams had been conducted, why the fuck they want to spoilt the career of many graduate. They are selfish and u thoughtful. Fuck them

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 06:56

+0 -0

Govt has abolished MCI after medical college scam. Why not same for BCI?

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 07:43

+1 -0

True. But has the replacement done anything to truly transform what the MCI was doing earlier? Sure we are now going to have NEET etc in more regional languages. But that's a political call.

With BCI, the central govt, irrespective of the party in power, has always chickened out whenever the BCI protested whittling of its role as a regulator of legal education. I seriously do not understand how BCI can take credit for NLSIU and name dropping some ex-SC/HC judges here and there in some committees as reasons for being allowed to continue as a regulator for legal education.

Now that BCI has AIBE, legal education should be taken away from them. Anyone who graduates AIBE gets to practice in Courts (only).

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 14:01

+0 -0

You really expect action from folks such as this? https://livelaw.in/top-stories/why-ex-cm-ramesh-pokhriyal-paid-rs-10-lakh-when-his-dues-were-41-lakh-uk-hc-issues-show-cause-notice-to-govt-official-164862

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 13:52

+0 -0

Another miss by Kian https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/orissa-high-court-calls-nri-quota-for-nlus-unconstitutional

Guest 23 Oct 2020, 16:49

+1 -0

Kian has given up reporting such things.

Guest 24 Oct 2020, 02:01

+1 -1

Sorry Kian, I respect you. It is not like that. But you are not covering certain news to protect NLSIU (i.e. rise in CLAT students rejecting it) and NLUD (i.e. new VC appointment controversy and faculty leaving).

TRUE 24 Oct 2020, 06:36

+1 -0

OH ABSOLUTELY
I truly like most of the work @Kian does man
But now LI needs to get rid of the OBVIOUS bias it has towards certain law schools (Re: NLUD)

Guest 24 Oct 2020, 08:19

+1 -0

Has been a while since Kian started "moderating" what is published. He was painfully slow with RGNUL protests and mostly skipped subsequent details. Absolutely no reporting on how things went down at NLU Ranchi after BCN got booted, the excesses of the interim VC and its run under a VC who had a chequered record at NLU Vizag. Maybe there is nothing to report on CNLU as well. Earlier when there was a major degree scam inquiry at NLIU Bhopal post-SSS exit, Kian skipped that as well. And if certain commentators here are to be believed, Kian has been swerving leads on inconvenient stuff at NUJS.

Then again, given the general state of media in Atmanirbhar land is it fair to single out Kian? Plus he hasn't staffed for reasons best known to him. There is only so much Kian can and will do.

Ajk 24 Oct 2020, 07:51

+0 -0

The number of students preferring other nlu's due to location and other factors is more or less similar to previous years. Stop concocting facts.

Guest 24 Oct 2020, 14:38

+0 -0

https://thewire.in/law/cji-bobdes-trip-to-kanha-is-state-govt-hospitality-compatible-with-judges-code-of-conduct

No wonder Kian does not waste time covering the "usual stuff" that goes on in and is expected of NLUs. Only when there is a big clamour, does it become "safe" to publish inconvenient pieces

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