The Practical Lawyer

All India Bar Examination

All India Bar Examination

By Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon*
Cite as: (2011) PL July An “All India Bar― got established in India only in early 1960s when the Advocates Act,
1961 was enacted by Parliament under which the management of the profession including admission to the Bar was
entrusted to an elected body of Advocates, the Bar Council of India. Under the Advocates Act, it is the duty of Bar
Councils of each State to maintain roll of all persons admitted to be advocates and to send copies of rolls of advocates to
the Bar Council of India. A certificate of enrolment in the prescribed form is to be issued by the State Bar Council.
However, persons who may be admitted as advocates on a State roll is subject to provisions of the Advocates Act and
the rules made thereunder. Accordingly Section 24 of this Act stipulates that an advocate must be a citizen of India,
should have completed the age of 21 years and should have obtained a degree in law in the manner prescribed in
Section 24(c). Section 24(c) further states that the person concerned must fulfil such other conditions as may be
specified in the rules made by the State Bar Council under this chapter.

As against the above powers and functions of the State Bar Council (there are 19 State Bar Councils in India) in
respect of admission to the Bar, Section 49(1)(ah) of the Advocates Act sets out the general power of the Bar Council of
India to make rules under the Act concerning, “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―. Exercising this
power vested in the Bar Council of India (BCI) under Section 49(1)(ah) of the Advocates Act, the Council framed and
inserted as Rules 9 to 11 in Part VI, Chapter III of the Bar Council of India Rules (Conditions for Right to Practice) to be
operational from April 2010.

New rules on right to practise 9. No advocate enrolled under Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 shall be entitled to
practice under Chapter IV of the Advocates Act, 1961, unless such advocate successfully passes the All India Bar
Examination conducted by the Bar Council of India. It is clarified that the Bar Examination shall be mandatory for all law
students graduating from academic year 2009-2010 onwards and enrolled as advocates under Section 24 of the
Advocates Act, 1961.

The All India Bar Examination 10.(1) The All India Bar Examination shall be conducted by the Bar Council of India.
(a) The Bar Examination shall be held at least twice each year in such month and such places that the Bar Council of
India may determine from time to time.
(b) The Bar Examination shall test advocates in such substantive and procedural law areas as the Bar Council of India
may determine from time to time.
(c) Such substantive/ procedural law areas and syllabi shall be published by the Bar Council of India at least three
months prior to the scheduled date of examination.
(d) The percentage of marks required to pass the Bar Examination shall be determined by the Bar Council of India.
(e) An unsuccessful advocate may appear again for the Bar Examination, without any limit on the number of
appearances.
(f) The Bar Council of India, through a committee of experts, shall determine the syllabi, recommended readings,
appointment of paper setters, moderators, evaluators, model answers, examination hall rules and other related matters.
(g) The Bar Council of India shall determine the manner and format of application for the examination.
(h) Upon successfully passing the Bar Examination, the advocate shall be entitled to a certificate of practice.

Application for certificate of practice 11.(1) The certificate of Practice shall be issued by the Bar Council of India to the
address of the successful advocate within 30 days of the date of declaration of results.
(2) The certificate of practice shall be issued by the Bar Council of India under the signature of the Chairman, Bar
Council of India.

Failed attempts to introduce Bar examination The Indian Advocates Act, 1961 in its original format required holders of
law degrees who wished to enter practice to complete a course in practical training for a year and also pass a Bar
Council examination [Section 24(1)(d)]. But, in 1973, this provision was deleted by way of amendment to the Advocates
Act, and since then, a law graduate from a Bar Council of India-recognised university could straightaway enrol himself as
an advocate and start practising at all levels of courts all over the country. Naturally, this resulted in mass enrolment of all
types of law graduates many of whom had not even had the minimum competence to handle litigation expected of a
professional. The Bar Council’s initial response was to restructure legal education itself by introducing mandatory
practical training courses in the LLB curriculum so that what could not be imparted after the law degree could, to some
extent, be given by the law schools. This did not succeed as expected because of the large number of law colleges
particularly in the private sector failing to implement the scheme as proposed by the Bar Council.

The Bar Council of India then tried to reintroduce an apprenticeship or pupillage by framing rules (the Bar Council of
India Training Rules, 1995) whereby it required fresh law graduates to work for a year with a Senior Advocate and fulfil
certain requirements to show acquisition of skills before they could enrol as advocates. However, some law graduates
challenged the legislative competence of the Council to make such a rule within the framework of the Advocates Act after
Section 24(1)(d) was deleted by Parliament in 1973. The Supreme Court accepted the plea and struck down the rule on
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the technical ground of lack of competence (V. Sudeer v. Bar Council of India1). The Court held that the Act did not give
the authority to the Bar Council to prescribe conditions for training and examination after acquiring a law degree unless
the Act is amended afresh and such a power vested in the Council.

The All India Bar Examination, 2011 The Supreme Court judgment in Sudeer case2 is widely criticised as erroneous
interpretation of the law and the Bar Council of India approached the Government for suitable amendments to the
Advocates Act. Pending legislative amendment, through an ingenious interpretation of Section 49(1)(ah) of the
Advocates Act which gives general power to the Bar Council of India to make rules to “prescribe conditions subject to
which an advocate shall have the right to practise―, the Council tried to fill the gap, at least partly, by introducing the 2010
Right to Practise Rules which prescribed conditions under which alone advocates could exercise the right to practise.
Sudeer3 judgment was distinguished by saying that those rules which were struck down related to “pre-enrolment
measures― to become an advocate under the State Bar Council roll. However, after a law graduate is enrolled as an
advocate on a State roll, how his right to practise is to be regulated is a subject-matter left to the Bar Council of India to
prescribe under its general powers of rule-making [Section 49(1)(ah) of the Advocates Act]. It was further stated that the
right to practise is not an absolute or unconditional right and it is not without any purpose that Parliament has given the
Bar Council of India powers to make rules prescribing conditions for exercising the right to practise under Section
49(1)(ah) of the Act. Just as the State Bar Councils have the right to prescribe conditions subject to which a person may
be enrolled as an advocate on their rolls under Section 28(2)(d) of the Act, the Bar Council of India has the right to
prescribe conditions subject to which an enrolled advocate shall have the right to practise under Section 49(1)(ah). In
fact, in the reasoning of the Court in Sudeer case4, such an interpretation was left open by the Court itself.

Fortuitously, in a related development in another litigation still pending in the Supreme Court (Bar Council of India v.
Bonnie Foi Law College), the Court appointed a committee headed by the Solicitor General of India (who incidentally is
the current Chairman of the Bar Council of India) to study and recommend a credible system of affiliation and recognition
of law colleges by the Bar Council of India. Upon receipt of the committee report, the Supreme Court mandated the
Central Government to implement its recommendation, explicitly referring to the introduction of a Bar examination to test
candidates for their suitability or otherwise for entry into the legal profession.

The Bar Council of India acted quickly, framed and notified the rules for the All India Bar examination and announced
that the first Bar examination would be held on March 2011 followed by the second in October 2011. It was held on
March 6 in which over 21,000 fresh advocates appeared from all over the country. The results were declared within a
month in which over 70% candidates have passed and earned the right to practise. This is a major breakthrough in
regulating entry to the profession through a Bar examination.

Nature, scope, content and method of the Bar examination A note circulated among the candidates for the examination
gives details of the scope, content and method of the test and the note in toto is reproduced below:
The first All India Bar Examination, to be conducted on 6-3-2011 is intended to test an advocate’s ability to practise the
profession of law in India. As this is the first time that this examination will be conducted, it will assess capabilities at a
basic level, and is intended to set a minimum standard for admission to the practise of law; it addresses a candidate’s
analytical abilities and basic knowledge of law.
The first All India Bar Examination shall be mandatory for all law students graduating from the academic year 2009-
2010 onwards. Candidates may apply to appear for the All India Bar Examination only after enrolling as an advocate
under Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 and will have to submit suitable proof of such enrolment along with the
application form for the All India Bar Examination (details provided in the application form).
The first All India Bar Examination shall be conducted across the country simultaneously on 6-3-2011. Candidates will
be free to choose an examination centre of their convenience, and will also receive printed preparatory materials to assist
them in preparing for the All India Bar Examination. (Printed preparatory materials in two volumes were supplied to
candidates well before the examination.)
The All India Bar Examination will be conducted in nine languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali,
Gujarati, Oriya and English and the preparatory materials provided to each advocate will be in the language in which they
choose to appear for the All India Bar Examination.

An advocate would have to pay `1300 (Rupees one thousand three hundred only) as fees to appear for the All India
Bar Examination, which amount will include the cost of receiving preparatory materials. Advocates appearing more than
once for the All India Bar Examination will be required to pay only `700 for repeat attempts, which amount shall not
include the cost of receiving preparatory materials for the All India Bar Examination. The application form shall contain
details of manner of payment of the fees for the All India Bar Examination.

Methodology The All India Bar Examination will have one hundred (100) multipleÓchoice questions spread across
various subjects. The subjects are taken from the syllabi prescribed by the Bar Council of India for the threeÓyear and five-
year LLB programmes at law schools in India (as set out under Schedule I to the Bar Council of India Rules). These
subjects are divided into two categories: the first comprises subjects that may be considered “foundational― in nature,
those that form the basis for large areas of law; the second comprises other subjects, which a new entrant to the legal
profession must also have a basic understanding of. Schedule I to this document contains the list of subjects that would
be tested in the All India Bar Examination and the weightage ascribed to each of these areas.
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The All India Bar Examination shall be structured with multiple-choice questions (i.e. the correct answer would have to
be marked out in the optical mark recognition (OMR) format answer sheet provided, and no writing of an answer would
be required). These questions will be divided into “knowledge-based― and “reasoning― questions, and advocates will
allowed a maximum of three hours and thirty minutes (3 hours 30 minutes) to complete the All India Bar Examination.
The emphasis throughout is on assessing an advocate’s understanding of an area of law, rather than on the ability to
memorise large texts or rules from different areas of law.

The All India Bar Examination will be “open-book―, which means that advocates may bring in any reading materials or
study aids that they choose, such as the preparatory materials provided for all the All India Bar Examination, textbooks
and treatises, and even handwritten notes. Advocates may not bring in any electronic devices, such as laptop computers,
mobile phones, or any device equipped with a radio transreceiver (such as pagers) at the examination centre.

The results generated after the answer scripts are corrected will simply state whether an advocate has or has not
qualified for practice (i.e. whether the advocate has passed or failed the All India Bar Examination); no percentage,
percentile, rankings, or absolute marks will be declared.

The preparatory materials shall contain model question papers and an examination guide for the All India Bar
Examination; apart from this, model question papers will be available on the website of the Bar Council of India
(www.barcouncilofindia.org) from 16-8-2010 onwards. The preparatory materials are being prepared with inputs from well-
respected members of legal academia.

Schedule I Syllabus of subjects for study Advocates will be required to answer questions from twenty subjects. The
subjects are taken from the syllabi prescribed by the Bar Council of India for the three-year and five-year LLB
programmes at law schools in India (as set out under Schedule I to the Bar Council of India Rules). These subjects are
divided into two categories. The examination paper will comprise at least seven questions from each Category I subject.
The paper will also have twenty-three questions from the Category II subjects as a whole. These twenty-three questions
will include questions from at least five Category II subjects. Category I subjects will be tested in Part I of the question
paper, and Category II subjects will be tested in Part II of the question paper.

The Category I and Category II subjects are set out below:

New Page 1 Sl. No.

Category/Subject

No. of questions

Category I (Part I of the Paper)

1.

Alternate Dispute Resolution

2.

Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act

3.

Constitutional Law

4.

Contract Law, including Specific Relief, Special Contracts and Negotiable Instruments.
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 The Practical Lawyer

5.

Criminal Law I : The Indian Penal Code

6.

Criminal Procedure

7.

Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing

8.

Evidence

9.

Jurisprudence

10.

Professional Ethics and the Professional Code of Conduct for Advocates

11.

Property Law

Category II (Part II of the Paper)

12.

Administrative Law

23 questions in all, and

these questions will

include questions from

at least 5 subjects in

Category II.

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 The Practical Lawyer

13.

Company Law

14.

Environmental Law

15.

Family Law

16.

Human Rights Law

17.

Labour and Industrial Law

18.

Law of Tort, including Motor Vehicle Accidents and Consumer Protection Law

19.

Principles of Taxation Law

20.

Public International Law

Certificate of practice A certificate of practice shall be issued by the Bar Council of India, under the signature of
the Chairman to the address of the successful advocate within 30 days of the date of declaration of results.

Moving forward After 6-3-2011, this exam will be a bi-annual affair, to be held in April and November of every year. The
second AIBE is announced for 24-7-2011 and the details regarding the process of registration are currently available on
the BCI website.

Bar Examination for Indian Nationals with Foreign Law Degree BCI has also announced separate examination for
Indian nationals holding foreign law degrees from the Council-recognised foreign law schools/ universities. Unlike the
AIBE syllabus, the examination for foreign degree-holders is not based on the LLB curriculum prescribed by BCI for
Indian law schools. There are only six subjects prescribed which include the Indian Constitution, the Indian Contract Law
together with Negotiable Instruments Act, Company Law, Civil Procedure Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian
Legal Profession. The candidates are not allowed to carry textbooks or other study materials in the examination and the
pass mark is only 40% in each paper. If a candidate fails in any of the six papers, he would be required to take the entire
examination again in all the six subjects.

Conclusions The All India Bar Examination is a recent development introduced by the Bar Council of India after finding
wide variations in the standards of law degree-holders from India’s 900 and odd law colleges turning out nearly 50,000
graduates annually. At least half of them seek to enrol as advocates in the country’s nineteen State Bar Councils. Initially,
the Indian Advocates Act, 1961 required mandatory apprenticeship for an year under a Senior Advocate and qualifying
an examination conducted by the State Bar Council for being admitted to the Bar. This requirement was dropped through
an amendment of the Act in 1973. Thereafter, the Bar Council of India attempted to introduce the same in 1995 through
its rule-making powers which was struck down by the Supreme Court on the ground that it is beyond its legislative
competence. Finally, under the General Power of the Bar Council of India to make rules and with the approval of the
Supreme Court a scheme for entry examination was introduced in 2010 under Rules on Right to Practice. The first round
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of examination held in March 2011 in which 20,000 advocates had appeared and 14,000 have passed is considered a
successful venture in ensuring minimum competence on the part of advocates to be licensed to practise law. There is a
separate examination scheduled for Indian nationals holding foreign law degrees. A system of certification is now in place
which is said to be the beginning of a series of reform initiatives of BCI designed to improve the standards and
management of the Indian legal profession, the second largest (over a million strong) in the world.

*Founder Director, National Law School of India University, Bangalore and W.B. National University of Juridical
Sciences, Kolkata, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Chair on Parliamentary Studies.
- (1999) 3 SCC 176.
- See supra n. 1.
- ibid.
- ibid.

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