Exclusive: Individual bar examinees’ marks would be disclosed together with results on 16 March, said Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman and solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, adding that he was not averse to further state bar council involvement and confirming the fees paid to the private contractor Rainmaker for assisting on the bar exam.
Subramanium (pictured) told Legally India that the first All India Bar Exam’s (AIBE) results would be announced on 16 March. “On 15th itself I’ll be checking the results myself. This is a completely computerised process but even then I’m having the protocol to check everything out.”
“We’re going to display the marks as well so that there’s total transparency – they will be announced on 16 March,” he added with a nod to the writ petition that was admitted in the Delhi High Court today, also noting that prizes would be awarded for the top three marks.
When asked what would happen if more than three candidates were tied for the top score or achieved 100 out of 100 marks, he laughed and said: “We’ll have to make some new prizes – we’ll have to do that.”
The exam was only perceived as “easy because students prepared themselves”, added Subramanium. “I looked at the paper after it was distributed – it was not exactly easy I would say – but if a person was not in the business of being a lawyer” they would have found it difficult.
“I’m very relieved also. I inspected the centres in Delhi and I found everything was actually foolproof. The second thing I noticed was unbelievable discipline amongst the participants – it was unbelievable – it was very disciplined and very serious. There was no invigilator who was a lawyer – I’ve seen to it that a proper check was done and a manual on procedure was to be followed.”
There was only a problem in Chennai, added the BCI chairman, which was caused by “the same people who attacked the court”. The Tamil Nadu government quickly apologised to him after he complained that students should not be hit and exposed to violence, he said. “[The government] said they’d make foolproof [security] arrangements next time. We’ll need to have new question papers obviously there [for the Chennai exam on 27 March].”
“Barring those three centres everywhere else the turnout was excellent.”
A matter of state importance?
On the subject of state bar council’s opposition to the exam, Subramanium said: “To be very fair to the state bar councils also, they’re overjoyed. The bar exam is a credit to them too. While they initially opposed it – it was an unknown thing for them – when they saw the course materials they became more confident.”
In respect of state bar councils’ expressed intention to hold state-wise bar exams he said: “I have no difficulty in decentralising the bar exam but it will have to have standard protocols, if they can assure compliance [with BCI quality standards].”
“I don’t think it’s antagonistic necessarily now – we are on a mound of cooperation now. Things have changed.”
Private sector services rendered
Legal industry services provider Rainmaker would receive Rs 900 out of the Rs 1,300 bar exam fee paid by each examinee, Subramanium confirmed to Legally India today. It is understood that Rainmaker would have to pay for most AIBE expenses out of its own pocket.
“Again we did a costing and all that and we had to look at multiple points. At this juncture we didn’t want it to be a very expensive exam and had to strike down somewhere between the cost of Rainmaker and other costs as well: hiring buildings, making sure of the quality of invigilation and many, many processes,” explained the BCI chairman.
“To be very truthful, I consulted a number of people. I looked at other agencies, I looked at an IIM, I looked at a Tata, Social Sciences, JEE people but this exam was pretty daunting because they were dealing with lawyers. This is not a classical exam and they were somewhat weary of even touching it. I don’t think they knew exactly the methodologies of arrangement or what kind of papers to set [for lawyers].”
Most others were also not ready to offer computerised marking, he added, which could have “led to utter subjectivity” and “malpractices”.
“To be fair to Rainmaker, they actually really just followed my instructions - at every stage I had control over the matter. At no point did Rainmaker take any executive or academic decision in the matter, except some technical processes.”
On technical processes the BCI chairman said that he also took the help of experts from England and Germany who told him that the AIBE systems of computerised grading were of an international standard.
“But to be fair to Rainmaker and also the many, many young people apart from Rainmaker who helped,” he later added, “it’s a tribute to the youth, it’s a tribute to young people. What had also impressed me is their absolute levels of integrity.”
Rainmaker was unavailable for comment when contacted.
Examining the future
Subramanium explained that after 16 March he would do a qualitative review and “maybe a third party review” to take a call about when, how and who would conduct the next exam.
“It’s a very good sign that it was possible for so many things to be done in a very short time,” he noted but added that nevertheless he had to remain a driving force behind the exam.
“I had to either field it or I was gone. I was the batsman and the bowler and fielder as well. And finally the umpire too,” mused Subramanium.
Roadmap: IDs, ethics, continuing legal education
“The next few milestones I have in my mind for the reform process - they can go faster now actually,” said the solicitor general.
“First, the unique ID number project – and then after the UIN project, we would do what we call the lawyers’ training programmes and the optional CLE [continuing legal education] programmes. And our ethics guidelines will be published by the middle of April.”
“And then I’m also having discussions with various international bodies, they are appreciating that we need a commonly defined ethical set of rules. If in future times there is multi-jurisdictional practice it should be known what is the position.”
Photo courtesy of Rainmaker
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As for the future projects of BCI, like many naysayers I scoffed when GS brought out (a little read) his vision statement in early 2010. I sincerely hope that he would be able to bring into reality his outline of a dynamic indian legal bar buttressed by quality law schools. IMHO the next stage of legal reforms would be to overhaul the colonial judicial structure in India and update the prosecutor's office.
Pardon my insolence, Mr. Subramanium, but what humility. Really now. And then of course you took into consideration others views and everything was so fair. [...] oh come one, you're the only one who knows what he is doing and what is right for the legal community. [...] Looks like a classic Freudian slip to me, or even better, it may not be a slip at all.
Tejas Singh, LLB student
He hardly got support from any quarter, yet he persisted in the better interests of the legal profession.
It takes foresight and plenty of guts to bring in change. Rather than be a fellow traveller, Mr Subramanium seized the opportunity on taking up the post of SG to bring much-needed standards into the profession.
PS: if you have any doubts on how low the legal profession has sunk, I suggest you read the excellent article on the Rise of the Pseudo-Lawyer - and Whether he Can be Defeated, posted on LI some time ago).
tell me what can i do. i dnt knw whom to complain nor i can leave the firm as i have to repay my hefty education loan.
Can SG Gopal S be of any help. can i give exam in Chennai??
can any action taken against this firm???
any help plzzz:sad:
Kudos to the Solicitor General for taking the initiative to introduce standards into the legal profession (regulating law schools, introducing a qualifying exam).
It takes a vision and a lot of guts to introduce reforms - esp. in the teeth of opposition with little support from any quarter. It's easy to be a fellow traveller. But then the world remembers the person who made a difference.
I hope Mr Subramanium succeeds in his bold endeavours and rescues the legal profession from the legions of "pseudo lawyers" who have run fair name of the noble profession into the ground.
(PS: I am wary of decentralisation at this juncture. It's important we have a uniform exam for a couple of years - to create a benchmark so to speak).
[Sorry about that - your comment was indeed temporarily lost in transit due to a technical error. But we have now made your previous comment live too. -Ed]
Just another way of earning a heavy chunk and playing with public money..
I think I was well within the boundary of free and fair expression, albeit critical. So, if you're not despotic, too, you'd feel obliged to justify. Or edit this too?
Its your editing that's abusive. Not free and fair comments.
I agree that he must be given credit for what he has done. My problem is, however, with fact that what he has done is ipso facto considered to be in the interests of the legal profession.
You say
"He hardly got support from any quarter, yet he persisted in the better interests of the legal profession."
Since, as he claims, he is the fielder, umpire et cetera, he was the ONLY one who decided what was in the better interests of the legal profession. His decision was final. I am in complete agreement with you when you say that the profession has sunk to new lows. However, my problem lies in the fact how one individual, be it anyone, can decide what is in the good interests of the legal profession. Of course, you may classify my objection as a dilatory democratic tactic, nevertheless, debate on an issue before taking a decision is the prerequisite of deliberative democracy and legitimacy, and Im sorry to say Mr. Subramanium does not meet these thresholds.
So kudos to him, but for his personal success, persistence and will, not for ameliorating the conditions of the legal profession. Far from it.
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ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED, ARE REQUESTED TO GET CLERIFICATION FROM ME ON TELEPHONE NUMBERS MENTIONED ABOVE AND MAY DISCUSS ANY TIME ON ANY QUESTION OR IF SO REQUIRE CAN MEET ME AT THE BELOW GIVEN ADDRESS
----------VED PARKASH SEHTIYA # 3604/II SECTOR 32 D CHANDIGARH
MOB. 09569499350, 08699093604, 9803352499, 09041938642
I ALSO REQUEST THE HONOURABLE CHAIRMAN BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA TO PUBLISH KEY ANSWERS TO ALL INDIA BAR EXAMINATIONS CONDUCTED ON 6TH MARCH 2011.
The bar exam was a good initiative. Let's wait for the results to come out and get some feedback from the people who wrote it, on how easy or difficult it was.
I wrote to him about some scheduling issues and he was very prompt.
I called to BCI last week about result declaration. They told me that results will be declared on 20th march. They also informed me that BCI chairman never declared that results will be out on 16th march as you have mentioned in your above mentioned news.They said this is a false news.They advised me follow only BCI website.
If the BCI is now saying 20th March through other channels, it was either an internal miscommunication within the BCI on the timelines or there has been a delay or complications in the marking since our conversation with the BCI chairman.
I will try to follow up and find out the latest stance.
Best regards
Kian, Legally India
----------VED PARKASH SEHTIYA 09041938642
------------VED PARKASH SEHTIYA 09569499350, 08699093604
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