Four further law students from Panjab University’s law department have challenged the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) proposed bar exam, following four cases in the past two weeks challenging various aspects of the exam.
The newspaper Indian Express reported that that senior advocate Sanjay Bansal filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on behalf of four petitioners.
Bansal said, according to the paper: “The post-enrollment restriction or the embargo placed by the Bar on the right to practice in the absence of any condition stipulated in any of the provisions contained in the Advocates Act, 1961, particularly the regulating provisions with regard to right to practice, is not only arbitrary and unreasonable but violative of Articles 14, 19 (1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India and therefore, deserves to be declared as unconstitutional and illegal.”
“The Bar Council of India, which is a statutory body, cannot impose any pre-enrollment conditions before a person is granted a licence to practice, neither can it impose post-enrollment conditions like qualifying of an examination, in the absence of any express power conferred on the Bar Council of India under Section 49 of the Act providing for holding of an examination as a pre-requisite condition for right to practice,” read the petition according to the Indian Express, which the paper wrote will come up for hearing today.
The grounds of this petition the three previous writ petitions that have been filed in the past two weeks, following the notification of the BCI’s resolution to hold the bar exam on 12 June.
The all-India bar exam is scheduled to be held on 5 December.
Comments
It is prima facie wrong to assert that Bar council of India cannot impose any pre-enrollment conditions before a person is granted a licence to practice, neither can it impose post-enrollment conditions like qualifying of an examination, in the absence of any express power conferred on the Bar Council of India under Section 49 of the Act. If we refer to Section 49 of the Advocates Act, 1961 which refers to the different powers of the Bar Council specifically gives ample power in the hands of Bar council to make rules regarding the conditions subject to which an advocate shall have the right to practise and the circumstances under which a person shall be deemed to practise as an advocate in a court. ( section 49 clause ah of tha act). But a petition lies on the grounds of breach of fundamental rights.
The exmination is also retrospective.
THE CITIZENS OF INDIA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO PRACTICE ANY PROFESSION OR TRADE. THE QUALIFICATION IS MANDATORY. THE BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO MAKE CONTROL OVER MEMBERS AFTER THEIR ENROLMENT. IMPOSITION OF RESTRICTIONS ON NON MEMBERS WHO ARE JUST FINISHED THEIR LAW DEGREE AND ENTITLED TO PRACTICE IS IN ORDER. EVEN AFTER ENROLEMENT AS MEMBER, IF THE EXAMINATION IS IMPOSED IT MAY RESULT IN THE RESTRICTIVE TRADE PRACTICE OR PROFESSION.