The Bar Council of India (BCI) has decided it wants lawyers to have lower court experience before they are allowed to practice in the Supreme Court or in the high courts, reported the Times of India.

BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told the Supreme Court collegium headed by justice JS Khehar that, on the suggestion of Supreme Court justice Kurian Joseph, the BCI is working on new Certificate of Practice (COP) Rules mandating at least five years of legal practice in the lower courts for a lawyer to be eligible to practice in the high courts, and at least five years of practice in the high courts for a lawyer to be eligible to practice in the Supreme Court.

This requirement will be in addition to the requirement of having cleared the All India Bar Examination (AIBE).

The bench reportedly said that following the example of Pakistan the Indian bar could also introduce such a rule.

The BCI had published but not notified in the Gazette, similar COP Rules in November 2014, requiring a minimum of five years of lower court experience of lawyers who wish to practice in the Supreme Court. But facing vociferous opposition, the regulator had withdrawn these rules before notification, adding that it will soon publish “some” new COP Rules.

The BCI then, in January 2015, published COP Rules requiring mandatory renewal of advocate enrolment every five years, and the Supreme Court stayed these rules.