The Supreme Court on March 12, 2019, in the case of
Rishabh Duggal v. Bar Council of India & Anr., has passed an order urging the Bar Council of India (BCI) to reconsider the upper age limit for admission in the five-year and three-year law degree courses after hearing the various stakeholders.
A Bench comprising of
JusticesS.A. Bobde and
Sanjay Kishan Kaul was hearing a petition filed in 2016 by two aspiring law students, Rishabh Duggal and Rishabh Arora challenging the BCI’s age limit rule in
Clause 28 of the
Rules on Standards of Legal Education as being unconstitutional and
ultra vires various provisions of the
Advocates Act, 1961. The petitioners have contended that the impugned provision violates the fundamental rights of aspiring law students under
Articles 14,
19(1)(g) and
21 of the
Constitution of India.
In 2008, the BCI had introduced the Rules on Standards of Legal Education framed under the Advocates Act of 1961. Clause 28 in the Schedule III of the Rules imposed an upper age limit for prospective law students to seek admission to the five-year and three-year law degree courses. The maximum age limit for joining the Bachelor’s law course was set at twenty years and for the post-graduate course, the limit was thirty years. Since the time the said clause was enacted various conflicting judgments were passed by different High Courts in writ petitions challenging the validity of the clause. While the Punjab & Haryana and the Bombay High Courts have declared the clause to be ultra vires the provisions of the Advocates Act, the Madras High Court has upheld the age-limit. However, despite the rulings, the clause still stood. After hearing the matter, the Bench observed that there is no age to acquire education. Justice Kaul observed that since children from economically weaker sections of society may not have a linear education, they would be disadvantaged by the age limit rule.
Following the observations made, the Bench asked the BCI to reconsider the age limit by stating that “We consider it appropriate in the interest of justice to permit the Bar Council of India to reconsider the age limit after hearing the various stakeholders, including the petitioner.” Read Order
Bar Council of India to Hold AIBE-XV on January 24, 2021 & AIBE-XVI on March 21, 2021 [READ PRESS RELEASE]
Legal Insiders
Dec 23, 2020
Dev Kumar Patel
(
Editor: Ekta Joshi
)
23 Shares
The Bar Council of India, the apex lawyers’ body and regulator of law education in the country, on 21.12.2020 through press release stated that the All India Bar Exam-XVI will be held on 21st March, 2021. However, the BCI also cleared that there is no change in examination date for AIBE-XV, i.e. January 24, 2021.According to release the online registration will start from December 26, 2020 and the last date for registration will be February 21, 2021.The Bar Council of India said in a...
Gujarat High Court issued notices to the Bar Council of India and Bar Council of Gujarat for depriving Law Graduate the opportunity of taking AIBE Examination [READ ORDER]
Judiciary
Dec 18, 2020
Dev Kumar Patel
(
Editor: Ekta Joshi
)
12 Shares
The Gujarat High Court on 15th December 2020 issued notice to Bar Council of India and the Bar Council of Gujarat on a petition filed by a law graduate. The petition was filed by a law graduate as application for enrolment with the Bar Council of Gujarat has been kept pending for over a year, thereby depriving her from the opportunity of appearing in the All India Bar Examination.A Single Bench of Justice S H Vora has issued notices to the Bar Council of India and the Bar Council of...
3297 Views
![Period Between March 24, 2020 to March 31, 2021 will not be Counted for Calculating the Grace Period of 2 Years for Clearing the All India Bar Exam: BCI Informs Delhi HC [READ MINUTES]](https://lawstreet.co/secure/uploads/2020/09/lj_1304_delhi.jpg)
![Bar Council of India to Hold AIBE-XV on January 24, 2021 & AIBE-XVI on March 21, 2021 [READ PRESS RELEASE]](https://lawstreet.co/secure/uploads/2020/12/lj_8117_Bar_Council_of_India.jpeg)
![Gujarat High Court issued notices to the Bar Council of India and Bar Council of Gujarat for depriving Law Graduate the opportunity of taking AIBE Examination [READ ORDER]](https://lawstreet.co/secure/uploads/2020/12/lj_5515_Gujarat_High_Court.jpeg)
Facebook Comments