The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday transferred to itself a week-old Madras high court (HC) petition challenging 12 names that were recommended for judgeship at the same HC, after the apex court ordered that judicial review of the list was not permitted and that the HC lacked the “conducive atmosphere” to hear such a petition.

Chennai advocate Elizabeth Seshadri has condemned the endemic exchange of votes in Tamil Nadu bar council elections for promises of cash and called for the Bar Council of India (BCI) to intervene following a Times of India report alleging that a bar council candidate had offered Rs 19 lakh to a lawyers’ association in the state’s southern district in exchange for 800 votes.

The tentacles of the “pseudo-lawyers” have driven the bar to the wall, claims advocate and partner Elizabeth Seshadri. Is a bar exam enough to cure the setting rot or do we need a test that reaches far more deeply?