Exclusive: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has been restrained from publishing the results to the third All India Bar Exam (AIBE) due today by the still effective Calcutta High Court’s stay.

BCI chairman Ashok Parija confirmed from London by phone that the exam results would not be published today: “There’s an injunction from the Calcutta High Court. We have filed an SLP – it [the results] should happen any time.”

Parija was unable to speak long enough on the phone to confirm the exact date that results would be expected.

In December 2011 the High Court had directed the BCI that it should not publish results for the course, in response to a writ petition by graduate Debarj Mallick, challenging the constitutionality of the bar exam and that it violated the Advocates Act, reported the Indian Express.

Mallick’s counsel Debasish Banerjee argued that “anybody could start practice after the registration with the state bar councils”. At least six writ petitions from 2010 challenging the bar exam, meanwhile, are understood to still be waiting to be heard in the Supreme Court.

One graduate told Legally India: “When few of my friends contacted BCI we got different dates for declaration of results such as first week of February… Then the other time they were told was in March and today they were told after 26th February.”

The exam was held on 8 January and results were promised on 31 January.

Update 3 February 18:00: The official BCI press release from the bar exam confirming our above story is available here. It says that the BCI would “intimate candidates” once results could be declared. The press release does not specify a date of release.

It adds that in future the AIBE would be held on fixed dates so “candidates are aware of the schedule in advance”.

• Click here for an unofficial post mortem and answer key of the exam.

Photo by comedynose