The law ministry may ask solicitor general and BCI chairman Gopal Subramanium to resign, to forestall a conflict of interest between the solicitor general and the ministry’s plans for legal education reform, reported the Indian Express.

A senior law ministry functionary told the Express: “The government wants the Solicitor General to resign the BCI post. He is representing the government in a number of important cases. Moreover, with the Law Ministry deciding to reform the legal education system as well as the legal profession, questions could arise on the issue of conflict in the two posts that the Solicitor General is holding. The views of the government and the BCI may not be the same on a number of issues such as the proposed Legal Practitioners (Regulations and Maintenance of Standards in Professions, Protecting the Interest of Clients and Promoting the Rule of Law) Act, 2010.”

The draft bill was introduced in early November and could supervise many of the day-to-day functions of the BCI.

The unnamed source told the Express that the ministry expected Subramanium to resign as BCI chief at the earliest.

Subramanium (pictured) declined to comment when contacted by the Express.

BCI members had staged a mini-rebellion against their chairman Subramanium by postponing the bar exam and proposing regional bar exams, revealed Legally India in mid-November. Subramanium was also in the public eye the same week facing media criticism as part of the 2G spectrum case.