A High Court bench in Maharashtra has ordered the petitioner students of Manikchand Pahade Law College to join the Bar Council of India vs Bonnie FOI Law College and Ors proceedings to set aside their grievances against the all india bar examin while it is understood that the BCI has written to the CJI to seek transfer of such pending petition to the Supreme Court (SC).

“I don’t think students are against the exam, only against the waiting period,” says solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium, who is the architect of the proposed all India bar exam. The exam remains controversial because this year’s final year students would not be able to practice law until 2011. Legally India asks the BCI chief some of the questions that have preoccupied students.

A 2010 Nalsar Hyderabad graduate yesterday challenged the six-month gap between bar council enrolment and passing of the proposed all-India bar exam, which would give litigating lawyers a “right to practice” only months after they graduate.

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 bar examination has faced further hurdles in a fourth court case by a Karnataka student, while a group of protesting final year students representing a number of law schools met law minister Veerappa Moily last Monday evening, calling the exam an unfortunate decision taken in haste that could cost jobs.

The Monsoon has been welcome where it has hit but the real floodgates apparently opened this week with the publication of the Gazette of India, which contained the notification of the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) resolution to hold an all-India bar exam.

A Chennai advocate and a retired mechanical engineer from Ahmedabad have independently filed two further writ petitions claiming that the Bar Council of India (BCI) is violating the 1961 Advocates Act and India’s constitution by holding an all-India bar exam.

Six law graduates have filed a writ petition challenging that the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) proposed all India bar exam should not prevent them from practising in courts.

Graduating students can work as “trainee advocates” with advocates or law firms but will not be able to “practice” law until they pass the all-India bar exam, the Bar Council of India (BCI) said in a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) published today, noting also that seniority of practice would be unaffected.

There was a brief but heavy 4am pre-Monsoon shower in Mumbai on Tuesday morning but the real storm was faced by the Bar Council of India (BCI) this week.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has announced that it will carry out its all-India bar exam in association with legal market services provider Rainmaker as a multiple choice test of 100 questions on 5 December 2010 that will require a “basic amount of preparation” to pass, although the BCI admitted that graduating students would probably not be able to practice in courts until 31 December.

Legal market services provider Rainmaker will run the proposed bar exam for the Bar Council of India (BCI) as the BCI is set to unveil its new website at 1pm today which was set up by the company.

The proposed bar exam will be an open book test exclusively giving litigating lawyers a “license to practice” but would not affect transactional lawyers, proposed solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramaniam on Saturday, noting that the exam could also apply retroactively to unenrolled graduates from past years.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has agreed to postpone the planned bar exam to December, BCI counsel KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court today in the case BCI v Bonnie FOI Law College & Ors, admitting the logistical challenge of holding the exam before September in a surprise U-turn.

The new bar exam for law graduates is understood to be held in late August with the Bar Council of India (BCI) set to announce the syllabus in a matter of days. Meanwhile, NUJS Kolkata final year students and Professor Shamnad Basheer have petitioned BCI chairman and solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam to postpone the exam until 2011 because they argue it prejudices students and is unconstitutional without amending the Advocates Act 1961.