The Punjab and Haryana High Court has adjourned to Wednesday the petition challenging the recent decision of the Bar Council of India that before joining the legal profession,fresh law graduates would have to pass an All India Bar Examination. On Friday,the petition came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Alok Singh. After Justice Hemant Gupta informed senior advocate Sanjay Bansal that Justice Alok Singh had reservations in hearing the case,the petition was adjourned. The petition has been filed by four law students of Panjab University in which the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana and the Union of India have been made opposite parties. The petitioners,who were admitted in LLB course in 2007,took the final semester exam in April this year. The petitioners were astonished on receiving information.that no advocate enrolled under Section 24 of the Advocates Act,1961 shall be entitled to practice under Chapter IV of the Advocates Act,1961,unless such advocate successfully passes the All India Bar Examination conducted by the Bar Council of India. It is clarified that the Bar Examination shall be mandatory for all law students graduating from academic year 2009-2010 and onwards and enrolled as advocates under Section 24 of the Advocates Act,1961, the petition filed though Bansal,reads. It has been submitted that the right to practice cannot be truncated by the Bar Council of India by imposing unreasonable conditions and that the imposition of such conditions would amount to legislating and not regulating the profession of law. The Bar Council of India,which is a statutory body,cannot impose any pre-enrolment conditions before a person is granted a licence to practice,neither can it impose post-enrolment conditions like qualifying an examination in the absence of any express power conferred on the Bar Council of India under Section 49 of the Act, the petition reads.
