An application for stay of the Bar Exam was unsuccessful in the Supreme Court today as the registrar referred the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) failure to serve notices on respondents to a chamber judge, although no substantive hearing will now be possible before the Diwali court vacations end on 8 November.
Senior counsel Dushyant Dave assistant Anirudh Rajput told Legally India via email: “Chief [Justice of India] has disallowed mentioning. Now we will mention it before Chief reopening and request for early hearing of matter.”
“Chief declined to list this today. Nothing happens today,” he added. “We are left with only option to mention for listing which will happen after reopening.”
Rajput said he had unsuccessfully tried to file an application for stay today but it was not be accepted as the matter was not mentioned. He added that the interim application would be less important after the bar exam application deadline of 31 October and they would focus on securing a main hearing.
The draft application for stay stated:
“It appears that service is not complete and will take a much longer time since it is difficult to service all the students who are parties to the transfer petitions. The Respondent had declared that the date of examination will be 5.12.2010. The last date for filing of applications was initially 30.09.2010 which has been extended to 31.10.2010. All these details have been specified on the website of Respondent with a url link of www.barcouncilofindia.org. The website also contains the study material which will form the basis of question papers. While making a provision for details on the website, the Respondent has ignored that there is a large number of students in remote areas without access to internet and unaware of the details and changes being done to the schedule by the Respondent, rapidly and arbidly. Many bright students of rural areas, as is the case of Applicants are finding it impossible to obtain and prepare for the examination, especially with the urgency with which the examination and its details are thrusted on students without sufficient intimation.”
Download the draft application for stay here. [Correction: paragraph 7: There is no Punjab and Haryana High Court order staying the bar exam – the draft petition was an early draft].
BCI spokesperson Gopal Sankaranarayanan denied that the delay in service of the transfer petition was the fault of the BCI, which had volunteered to serve notice after the registrar office's failure to do so, but instead that the petitioners should have themselves come forward to file vakalatnamas in the apex court. “There are six petitions which have been filed in the Supreme Court – each one of these has challenged the bar exam in the various high courts but they [the petitioners] know that it has transferred the matter to the SC,” he explained. “If I see in Legally India that my petition has been transferred I would immediately instruct someone in the Supreme Court.”
He said that it should not be difficult for any of the lawyer petitioners to find lawyers to represent them in the Supreme Court. “There are lots of lawyers who would like to appear in this issue. So I don't think engaging Supreme Court lawyers should be a problem.” He added that many of the petitioners from law schools would also have batch mates whose seniors or they themselves would be practising in the Supreme Court and could file appearance on their behalf.
The deadline for registration for the bar exam is this Sunday 31 October. Sankaranarayanan said that 16,000 applications for the bar exam had been received to date and the BCI was expecting at least 5,000 more in the next three days.
On 25 October the registrar had ordered that the case could be sent to a chamber judge if the BCI did not serve notices by 28 October: “If nothing is filed on record, matter may be listed before the Hon'ble Judge in Chambers for non--prosecution at the earliest. A single judge will take it forward. Was decided on 25th – matter was posted for 28th.”
In the Supreme Court matters can be sent to single chamber judges under Chapter VI (page 46) of the Handbook on the practice and procedure of the Supreme Court.
The rules for Chamber hearings are set out on page 47 of the Supreme Court Rules, Rule 30, Section C as no. (28) - Summons for non-prosecution under Order XV.
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Tareekh per tareekh , Taaareeeeeeeekh per TaaaaaaaaaReeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeKh. I wonder what example is this????
Obdurate attitude of legal bosses coupled with Judicial obstinacy are not conveying a good message to young legal fraternity.
We are you children, your sons and daughters, My Lord.
you shall have to hear us.
We need a Grand National alliance of young lawyers to fight it out, we need blessings of bench and support of seniors.
In the name of Justice???
Anoop
THANK U.
BCI mockery and money grabbing scam.
Only 12-15000 signed for examination.
Rainmaker partners & BCI chairman's kith and kin will sign up soon to fillup the quota.
news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?699058
www.hindustantimes.com/Students-go-to-HC-over-bar-exam/Article1-618788.aspx
news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4514431
www.humsafar.com/law-grads-file-pil-against-bci-2200.html
Besides most pass-outs from NLSs do not even go to court, those who go most only appear with the counsels who appear and plead, so Bar Exam does not really make a difference to them apart from the fact that they will not be able to file Vakalatnama or be Advocates on Record.
In all the debate about the delaying tactics of the Supreme Court and whether BCI has the power to come out with the AIBE notification (about which i would comment later on in the post), one thing that seems to have escaped everyone's attention is the pathetic management of the BCI for the examination. Here's my experience.
I have sent the AIBE nearly a month ago and since i live in Delhi, it should not have taken more than 2 days for the AIBE form to reach BCI office. Also i had posted the form at their new office. However till date i have not received any confirmation from the BCI in regards to receipt of the form. I have sent 2 emails and both the time i got replies that i would be updated soon in regards to the receipt of the form but nothing further. In regards to helpline nos, i tried calling those number many times, but either they are not reachable or no one picks up the call.
Now the funny part. One of my colleague who happens to be a girl called the BCI office (not the helpline) for the confirmation of the receipt of the form. She got the confirmation immediately. I called up after 2 minutes to the BCI office but was instead asked to call helpline number.
If this is the kind of organization capabilities BCI has, then the entire objective of the exam would get defeated which is to improve the quality as nobody would trust the entire process. I was involved in the organization of the BCI moots some years ago and i have interacted with the BCI officials. Most of them are still continuing in their post and i know very well what kind of people they are and this adding with the lack of transparency would raise genuine doubts about the conduct of the exams.
In regards to criticism is some quarters about the reluctance of this year's graduates for giving the exams, let me put this in perspective. Though i cannot speak on behalf of all but still i would say what concerns us the most is the manner in which these exams are being conducted. An exam where about 50,000 people are expected, takes lot of planning and time to prepare for it which of course the BCI does not have and that is where the problem lies. I and i'm sure others are also quite concerned the mess in which exams are being conducted and we are already seeing an example when they even cant confirm the receipt of the forms.
In regards to whether this entire notification is ultra vires, lets leave this debate to the courts.
Kian- i would request you to kindly get the BCI's response on the issue of delay of receipt and the way the exams are being conducted.
1. NLUs offer structured legal education and that's the reason why many of the under-grads from such institutions have an edge over non-NLUs where either students or the instructors are missing from classes and have poor infrastructure. Students from such law schools have typically exhibited lack of a "sense of community" until their legal education gets over.
2. True, most of the NLU under-grads are trained for and do join law firms in India and abroad. You won't find many of them practicing before a court of law in India. While I agree with your argument, but unfortunately the Mumbai HC does not and has interpreted the phrase in the Advocates Act as otherwise. I don't know which top-tier law firm you are working for, but most of the NLU pass-outs I have seen are better trained (on average) than those from the non-NLUs. Clearly, you being their contemporary, may find yourself lacking in the ability to assess and compare their legal skills and efficiency.
3. I don't know where @8 and his post are coming from. Purely on process, the manner in which Rainmaker was awarded the examination contract was clearly arbitrary and wrong. Rainmaker has no track record of conducting such examinations and their credentials in this regard are being rightfully doubted.
4. A bar exam is good for the legal community in India and will help weed-out the wheat from the chaff. Many lawyers are able to survive competition despite their incompetence, as the tables are more often than not, tilted in favour of the established and powerful (no matter how stupid). Only objection on this should come from the law schools (and their existing students) whose status and accreditation is being unjustly jeopardized.
Gave the 1300/- bank draft to BCI ? That is what they wanted.
I agree with most part of your 'funny?' comment. I also agree that NLU students are mostly suited for law firms. Passing Bar Exam is for earning the right to practice in Courts. In your earlier comment: you said Rainmaker should make the exam so tough that only NLUs pass and all others fail. I failed to understand how there can be progress when NLUs do desk job and not actual court practice in case they are the only pass-outs as you immaturely desire. I see in your latest comment you agree that most NLUs do not practice in courts.. thus, please elaborate how would there be progress?
Besides i totally agree that NLUs are better trained, they are obviously more street smart and but lack adequate legal knowledge. But lawyers job is not a fancy marketing/management/hr job where one can get along being just street smart. If a lawyer lacks proper or adequate knowledge he/she is utterly useless. Besides I also feel that NLUs are less hardworking because mostly they are too used to have been getting everything served to them on a platter! Their knowledge is very much below par and FYI most colleagues of mine are from top tier NLUs!
Thus, I would not be surprised if a decent bunch of NLUs fail the Bar Exam! My only advice to you and the rest in your herd: wake up! look around and stop counting NLUs as the face changers of Indian legal system or wait till the Bar Exam results are out to endorse my view.
How they shift the blame on students?
This type of [...] should be thrown out from their post.
Watch the shameless self propaganda in BCI website.Who knows one day he may be the CJI for his landmark legal reforms.
"Gopal Subramaniam brings extensive legal and administrative experience to his twin roles of Chairman of the Bar Council of India and Solicitor General of India.
A key player in several landmark constitutional law proceedings as counsel, the Supreme Court has often called for his expert service.
The Chairman of the Bar Council of India is elected from amongst its members, ordinarily for a period of two years. Assisted by the various committees of the Council, the chairman acts as the chief executive and director of the Council. Starting with MC Setalvad, the post has seen several stalwarts occupy it.
Gopal Subramanium’s tenure as the Additional Solicitor General of India during 2004-2009 saw him representing the Union in cases charged with political and juridical complexities such as the Bihar Assembly dissolution, OBC quotas, de-freezing of Bofors related accounts, Sethusamudram project and airport privatization. He was amicus curiae in similarly controversial issues such as the petrol pump allotments and the matter of fake encounters in Gujarat. Subramaniam is active in other courts too and was instrumental in confirming the trial court convictions in the Parliament attack case in the High Court of Delhi...to be continued.
by Ram K Kaushik
The idea of conducting the already troubled bar examination in India is one of the worst decisions by bar council of India (BCI) in general and law ministry in particular. To make the matter worst, law minister Veerappa Moily is absolutely indifferent towards the situation. The final nail in the coffin has been put by none other than the Supreme Court of India.
By allowing the delaying tactics of BCI, Supreme Court is equally responsible for playing with the careers of young lawyer of India. Supreme Court has also not realised that it is defeating the national litigation policy of India (NLPI). The NLPI is although launched by the law ministry yet it has remained on papers alone with no impact at all on the legal and judicial functioning of India.
There is no doubt that neither BCI nor law ministry is in a position to conduct bar exams in a fair, transparent and qualitative manner. Even BCI is aware of this fact that is why it is engaging in delaying tactics. Instead of declaring the entire exercise illegal and unconstitutional, the Supreme Court of India is actively supporting BCI by allowing their delaying tactics.
The Supreme Court of India recently decided to experiment with email notices to respondents to cut the delay in the traditional method of serving notices. After more than three months of such decision we are witnessing that it has no strength and will to achieve this objective. This approach is the main reason why we do not have even a single e-court in India.
In the ultimate analysis, this is the call of law ministry in general and law minister Veerappa Moily in particular. By remaining indifferent and silent, Veerappa Moily is doing more damage than providing solutions.
Very unfortunate on the part of judiciary!
Hey Gopu uncle & Sachin ur plan of minting the money seems to be good idea but then u forgot to do the Ground job. u need expert HR manager and gud productivity team.
open book exam, 40% marks to clear the exam...what really did u wanted to do, just make the exam move on & by not able to serve the notice( bty i think bar council have the record of each & every person enrolled and they have the man power & money so if they really wanted to get notice served they could have easily done, even my fav Gopu uncle and Sachin bhaiya could have taken the Flight and reach out to them in order to serve the notice considering this fact the valuable time they have wasted of SC in getting adjournment ( Blv me this is same guy who spoke up and said there should be limited adjournment's and those who wasting the time of court be punished :-x ) and then billing the amount to the govt. and BCI by the Gopu uncle ( srsly i never heard and im 100% sure that no body must have heard that Gopu uncle is not charging anything to the Govt. and BCI ( mind it- only legal bill yaar, dont take it otherwise ;-) )
bty Kian hav'nt heard from u about the exam, i wonder even u attended the grand dinner Organized by Gopu uncle ( sachin is throwing the party on Dec 5 did u rcv the invitation, bcaz i did- ( my card say's Thank's bt u gt SCRE*D and i got my hands on ur AS and it was ************************** CENSORED
plz anyone who has attended the party thrown by Gopu uncle plz share the details bcaz my uncel was upset with me and wanted me to study for the exam so he did'nt invited me :-x
bty the BAR EXAM Case is going to be *************** as it would turn infructous.
UR FAV
fuc**d up student ( who is still studying after graduation)
Is this legal reform ?
But sorry to say that "You" are not going to make any money from this venture.
If you want the exam to be conducted properly,Why are you not distributing study material then? Because you want to pocket the entire money .
[...]
Do toddlers whatever you can to stop us.
n if u dnt want to say anything about this matter ..its kk..bt why supress t other's voice..
law school has taught us Golden rule of interpretation. n by which i n most f can interpret why u rn't syng anythng on this issue...
bar exam has affected a lot, n my voice sayng tht gopu uncel has made us bonded labpurs in t hand f t Sen. adv. is true. thy dnt pay... [...] RTI also speaks about it..no tender nor any EOI nothing totally thy wished and gt selected and now bsy in Kissing our A*s
now Angry Fuced uP *****
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