[BREAKING] “All Final-Year Law Students are Allowed to Appear in AIBE 2024”: CJI

The Supreme Court Today (Sept 20) allowed final-year law students to appear in the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) which is scheduled to take place on November 24. The Court passed this interim order while hearing a petition challenging the decision to the Bar Council of India to exclude final year law students from registering for AIBE.

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court allowed final-year law students to appear in the upcoming All India Bar Examination (AIBE), scheduled for November 24, 2024. This decision comes after a petition challenging the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) exclusion of final-year law students from registering for the examination.

During the hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, the BCI submitted that they required 4 to 6 weeks to frame new rules to permit final-year students to take the AIBE. However, the court emphasized that these students should not lose a year due to the delay in implementing the new rules.

The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, remarked:

“Since the exams are in November 2024, let us keep this in October. The Constitution Bench judgment by Justice SK Kaul does contemplate that even final-year students can take AIBE. You have to comply with the Constitution Bench judgment.”

The bench has scheduled further proceedings for October 19, 2024 to ensure compliance.

The BCI assured the court that they are implementing the necessary changes in accordance with the Constitution Bench ruling and stated,

“We are implementing it, and there is no denying it.”

At this stage, counsel representing the petitioners argued that a “policy paralysis” on part of the BCI cannot be used to scuttle the rights of students.

When CJI Chandrachud asked the reason for delay in complying with the Constitution Bench decision, the BCI counsel said that they were waiting for top court’s decision on the enrolment fee issue.

The Court then proceeded to pass the direction to allow students to register for the examination.

Pertinently, the suggestion to the Constitution Bench to consider allowing final year law students to take the Bar exam was given by then Amicus Curiae KV Viswanathan (now a Supreme Court judge)

“We are inclined to accept the suggestion from the learned Amicus that students who have cleared all examinations to be eligible to pursue the final semester of the final year course of law, on production of proof of the same, could be allowed to take the All India Bar Examination. The result of the All India Bar Examination would be subject to the person passing all the components required under the course of study of the University/College. This would be subject to the All India Bar Examination results being valid for a specified period of time,”

-the top court had said in that judgment.

Background of the Case

The petitioners argued that the BCI’s previous decision to exclude final-year law students from the AIBE was contrary to the Constitution Bench judgment in Bar Council of India v. Bonnie Foi Law College & Ors.

According to Paragraph 38 of this judgment, final-year law students who have cleared all previous examinations and are eligible for their final semester should be allowed to take the AIBE. The judgment also clarifies that the results of the AIBE would remain contingent upon students passing all remaining components of their course.

The court, while acknowledging the BCI’s delay in framing rules, underscored that the interim order would apply not only to the petitioners but to all final-year law students eligible under Paragraph 38 of the Bonnie Foi judgment. The court ruled:

“We direct that the BCI shall permit the registration of all students who fall within the ambit of Paragraph 38 of the Bonnie Foi decision. The above direction is to operate in rem for AIBE scheduled for November 24.”

The Bonnie Foi judgment, delivered in February 2023, had stipulated that final-year law students who have successfully completed all their prior exams can be permitted to sit for the AIBE, provided they present proof of eligibility. The results of the exam would be valid for a specified period and conditional upon passing all components required by their law course.

Despite the ruling in February 2023, the BCI has not yet implemented these rules, prompting the Supreme Court’s intervention.

This interim order ensures that eligible final-year law students across the country will be able to register and appear for the AIBE in November, preventing any loss of academic or professional time due to administrative delays.

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