SC junks petition against Bar Council of India’s rule mandating qualifying exam for foreign law grads

Ahead of the November 30 All-India Bar Examination, the Supreme Court has rejected a petition challenging the Bar Council of India’s rule requiring Indian citizens with foreign law degrees to qualify the AIBE to be eligible to practise law in India even after completing a two-year bridge course.

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the petition filed by Saanil Patnayak after it was informed that the petitioner had already moved the Delhi High Court for similar relief.

The petitioner—a law graduate from London’s Brunel University—had completed the BCI’s bridge course at the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER), Goa.

He contended that the qualifying examination had no statutory basis and unfairly duplicated the testing already done through the bridge course and the AIBE.

Requiring a further qualifying examination was duplicative and contrary to the decision of the Karnataka High Court, which had held that no additional exam was needed after completion of the Bridge Course, he submitted.

Patnayak sought to highlight that the Delhi High Court had taken the opposite view, resulting in two directly conflicting judgments for candidates with identical qualifications.

The BCI said the petitioner had earlier moved the Delhi High Court and later withdrawn his case after the apex baar body clarified that provisional enrolment would be granted to candidates who clear the qualifying exam, allowing them to begin practice pending their attempt at the AIBE.

The BCI said this order of the Delhi High Court was not challenged before the Supreme Court on the first date of hearing of the present petition when the court had issued notice.