By Meher Sunil Dabrai
Introduction
The Bar Council of India is a statutory body that was established under the Advocates Act, 1961 to supervise and regulate the legal practice as well as legal education in India. The Bar Council also plays the role of a regulatory body by conducting a yearly exam called the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) to select the individuals who can practice in the courts in the country.
The Council exercises disciplinary jurisdiction by prescribing the standards of professional conduct and etiquette for the bar of India. Their aim is to protect the rights, interests and privileges of the advocates in India.
In the wider sense, the Bar Council of India has been established under the Advocates Act 1961 to act as a statutory and regulatory body for the legal profession and education in India as well as being the representative of the legal profession in the country.
What is the Bar Council?
The Bar Councils of India have been established under Section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961 on the recommendation of the All India Bar Committee in the year 1961 to operate on the national level along with the respective State Bar Councils. The State Bar Councils have been established under Section 3 of the Act.
The Bar Council of India consists of members that are elected from each State Bar Council and the Attorney General of India and the solicitor of India who are ex-officio members.
The members of the State Bar Councils are elected for a period of five years. The Council has the power to elect its own Chairman and Vice- Chairman for a period of two years from amongst its members.
The current chairman of the Bar Council is Senior Advocate Manan Kumar Mishra.
Legal Provisions
The Advocates Act provides for the constitution of the Bar Councils as well as the All-India Bar. More specifically, Section 3 of the Act talks about the State Bar Council and Section 4 mentions the Bar Council of India. Section 4 also talks about the composition and the structure of the Bar Council of India.
Section 5 of the Act establishes the Bar Council of India as a corporate body and states that it will have perpetual succession and a common seal. It also empowers the Bar Council to sue by the name by which it is known.
The Bar Council of India Rules are the rules and regulations laid down to exercise the procedure and manner of conduct in which the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Councils are supposed to function. The Bar Council of India Rules lays down the procedure for the election and the termination of the members of the council.
It lays down the conditions for the qualifications and conditions for the selection of various members of the staff.it also specifies the procedure of the meetings of the council or the meetings of the committees and their reports.
Functions of the Bar Council of India
Section 7 of the Act specifies the functions of the Bar Council of India (hereinafter as the BCI). An amendment was made by Act 60 of 1973 due to which more functions were inserted in Section 7.
Section 7 also gives power to the Bar Council of India to become a member of international legal bodies such as the International Bar Association.
The functions of the bar council as per Section 7 of the Advocates Act 1961 is as follows:
- To lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates as well as protect and safeguard their rights, privileges and interests.
- The BCI lays down the procedure to be followed by its own disciplinary committee along with the disciplinary committee of each State Bar Council. The Bar council exercises general supervision and control over all the State Bar Councils. The Bar Council of India also has the power to deal with or dispose of any matter under the Advocates Act which may be referred to it by the State Bar Council.
- The BCI recognizes the Universities in and outside the country whose degrees in law shall be allowed as a qualification for enrollment as an advocate. The BCI also has the power to visit and inspect the universities for this purpose.
- The BCI promotes legal education and lays down the standards for such education by consulting the Universities in India that impart such education. Section 9 of the Advocates Act sets up a legal education committee for the same. This committee goes for inspecting the various Universities and reports to the BCI.
- The BCI has the power to promote and support various law reforms and give their suggestions or recommendations about the same.
- The BCI conducts and organizes seminars and talks on various legal topics by eminent jurists and publishes journals and papers of legal interest.
- The BCI has the power to manage and invest the funds of the Bar Council. The BCI may give financial assistance to organize social welfare schemes for the disables, poor and for other Advocates. The BCI can use the funds for the establishment of legal aid centers and law libraries. The BCI receives grants, donations and gifts for the abovementioned purposes.
- The BCI has the power to appoint various committees such as Disciplinary committees, Educational committees etc.
- The BCI conducts regular elections to elect the members of the Bar Council.
Case laws
Bar Council of Maharashtra v. M.V Dabholkar and others[1]
Facts:
The Respondents were lawyers practicing in the criminal courts and were charged with professional misconduct under Section 35(1) of the Advocates Act 1961. They stood outside the Magistrate courts and tried to snatch briefs from potential litigants in an ugly scrimmage.
They even engaged in physical fights and promised undercut fees to the litigants to secure work for themselves. The High Court brought this to the attention of the Bar Council of Maharashtra who considered the said complaint and referred the matter to its Disciplinary Committee for further probe.
Held:
The ethics for advocates do not permit advocates to advertise even by way of soliciting, scrambling or any other obnoxious practices therefore it was held that the Respondents were guilty of professional misconduct and suspended them from practicing for a period of three years.
D. Saibaba v. Bar Council of India and another[2]
Facts:
Smt. D Anuradha was the Respondent No.1 in the civil appeal. She was the wife of D Saibaba who was the appellant therein. The marriage had broken down and the spouses were on cross ends with each other.
The wife filed a complaint under Section 35 of the Advocates Act complaining of professional misconduct on the grounds that the appellant was running a telephone booth under the handicap quota in spite of being enrolled as an Advocate.
The appellant said that he was indeed handicap and had started the said telephone booth before he was enrolled as an Advocate due to certain financial constraints and following that, the booth was being run by his old parents.
He also submitted that the complaint was malicious and had come from a disgruntled wife who was merely trying to harass him and had also filed false criminal cases against him.
Held:
The Bar Council of India directed the appellant to surrender the telephone booth, presumably forming an opinion that irrespective of who was running the booth, the booth was registered under the handicap quota in the name of the appellant and the surrender of the booth would by itself bring an end to the controversy so far as his conduct as an advocate was concerned.
The appellant sought some time for the collection of certain dues which could not be collected if the telephone booth was surrendered.
As the appellant eventually failed to surrender the STD booth, the Bar Council passed an order advising the State Bar Council under which the appellant was registered to delete his name from the rolls of Advocates.
Powers of the Bar Council of India
The Bar Council of India has the power to make rules under the provisions of Section 15 of the Advocates Act.
The Act provides certain rules for the election of the members of the Bar Council, chairman and vice- chairman, election disputes, filling of casual vacancies in the Bar council, powers and functions of chairman, vice chairman and other members of the council.
The Bar Council has the power to manage and invest the funds given to them and use and invest them at their own discretion for organizing seminars, workshops, and legal aid.
The Bar council also has the power to set up various committees for the smooth functioning and the distribution of various powers. Some of the committees of the Bar Council are as follows:
- Legal Education Committee– This was established by the Bar Council of India under Section 10(2)(b) of the Advocates Act 1961 for the purpose of legal academics. The Education Committee is responsible for supervising the Universities imparting legal education in India and abroad. They also decide the Universities whose law degrees will be recognized by the Bar Council of India.
- Bar Council of India Trust– the Bar Council of India introduced a public welfare and charitable organization, namely, The Bar Council of India Trust 1974. Their main purpose of this committee is to establish standardized law schools in the country and to enhance legal research.
- Directorate of Legal Education– The Directorate of the Legal Education was established for the purpose of running, initiate, upheld, organizing and administering:
- Training for the teachers.
- Certainty of Legal education.
- Advanced specialized professional courses of legal research.
- Workshop programs from Indian students who are seeking for the registration from the foreign universities after completing their law degree by the Bar Council of India.
Recent changes made by the Bar Council of India
Recently, the Bar Council discontinued the 1-year LLM course that was offered by many law Universities and made it a compulsory 2 year course for all Universities imparting legal education. The Bar Council notification issued for this purpose also made it compulsory for a student to have completed a three- or five-year LLB course as qualification for enrolling themselves for their masters (LLM).
As per the new rules, a master’s degree in any specialized branch of law offered in the open system to any graduate such as Business law or Human rights or any other law related qualification without having an appropriate LLB or BA LLB degree as the entry level qualification will not be allowed from now on.
Apart from this, the Bar Council has also disallowed carrying notes and reference books for the All India Bar Examination (also known as the AIBE).
This is essentially an open book examination comprising of questions involving all the major subjects that have been taught during the LLB course.
Earlier all sorts of bare acts, reference books and notes were allowed inside the examination hall for the same but from now on the Bar Council has limited the kind of study material that the examinees will be allowed to carry for the said examination. Bare acts are still allowed for the AIBE.
In lieu of the Covid-19 pandemic, the BCI also has an additional task of issuing various Covid-19 guidelines and protocol for the functioning of various courts across the country.
The BCI has also ensured that certain urgent matters are conducted online, and professional standards of advocacy are maintained during such hearings as well. The BCI now also has the power to decide if a certain court may remain closed owing to the situation of the place where it may be located.
Conclusion
The Bar Council of India plays a key role in the regulation of legal practice and legal education in India. Its members are elected from well reputed senior lawyers in the country and it represents the Indian Bar. In simple words, the Bar Council of India plays an important role in maintaining ethical and professional standards for the practice of advocacy in the country.
The Bar council also regulates and supervises the Universities imparting legal education in the country. It also grants recognition to Universities located in India and abroad whose degree in law may be allowed to serve as a qualification for students to enroll themselves as advocates upon graduation.
Apart from this, the Bar Council also has other capacities vested in it, practicing which, can rebuild the entire legal field in the nation.
The Bar Council in India has always been very efficient and effective in its functioning though there have always been talks about increasing the power of the Bar Council of India to ensure more effective command over the legal fraternity.
References
- lexlife.in
- casemine.com
- barcouncilofindia.org
- Advocates Act 1961
- Bar Council of Maharashtra v. M.V Dabholkar and others 1976 AIR 242 ↑
- D. Saibaba v. Bar Council of India and another Writ Petition (Civil) 528/2003 ↑