The All India Bar Exam (AIBE) scheduled for 16 August 2020 has been postponed indefinitely, with the application date extended to 31 August 2020, reported LiveLaw.

That is not a surprise: even in May when the Bar Council of India (BCI) had announced 16 August as a date, we had predicted that exam date as being a very tentative one, since the BCI has a strong track record in postponing the exam, even without the help of an out-of-control Covid-19 pandemic.

No official notification has been made on the AIBE website so far, but LiveLaw had tweeted a BCI press release from chairman Manan Kumar Mishra (see below), which stated:

In another important resolution dated 29.7.2020, keeping in view the present pandemic situation and frequent lockdown, increasing number of corona patients daily, the Council has resolved to postpone the All India Bar Examination to be held on 16.8.2020 and it has further resolved to extend the date of receipt of applications from candidates till 31.8.2020(for the present. The date of examination and other schedules are to be considered and decided by the Monitoring Committee for A.I.B.E. (headed by the Hon’ble former Judge of Supreme Court). (sic as applicable)

The AIBE is an exam normally physically held in test centres, which is obligatory for all law graduates who wish to practice law in the courts.