BCI wants three-year practice must for aspiring judicial officers

New Delhi, January 3

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has said it will file an application before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to make minimum three-year practice at the Bar mandatory to become a judicial officer.

The BCI, the country’s apex lawyers’ body, said judicial officers not having practical experience as advocates were mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters.

At present, fresh law graduates are being allowed to sit for the Judicial Service Examinations without having any practical experience at the Bar. It said the BCI, along with all state Bar councils, was strongly in favour of minimum three-year experience as an advocate to be prescribed for being considered eligible to appear in a judicial service exam.

“Judicial officers not having practical experience at the Bar are mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters. Most of such officers are found to be impolite and impractical in their behaviour with members of the Bar and litigants,” Srimanto Sen, BCI secretary, said in a press release issued on January 2.

The council said inexperience at the Bar was one of the primary and major reasons for the delay in the disposal of cases in the subordinate judiciary. “Trained and experienced judicial officers can comprehend and dispose of matters at a much faster pace, thereby leading to efficient administration of justice,” it said. The requirement of three-year experience at the Bar had been done away with by the SC in March 2002. The BCI said it would file an application before the apex court to seek the modification of that order.

The statement came in the wake of a petition moved before the Supreme Court.

The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission had invited applications in a notification in December for the appointment of civil judges (junior division) in the AP State Judicial Services for advocates having a minimum experience of three years. A plea has already been filed before the SC against the Andhra Pradesh notification, in which the petitioner has challenged it on the grounds that the requirement of three year experience at the Bar was illegal and unwarranted. — PTI