The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to petitioners in various High Courts who had challenged the validity of the All-India Bar Examination proposed by the Bar Council of India in December this year.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar issued notice on a petition filed by the Bar Council of India (BCI) seeking transfer of the petitions pending in nine High Courts, including Madras, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana, and Gujarat.
As per the BCI's proposal, passing the All-India Bar Examination is mandatory for commencement of practice as advocate in court. This has been challenged in writ petitions in these High Courts.
The BCI said that all these pending writ petitions involved the same/substantially the same question of law and were pending adjudication. It would be in the interest of justice that the petitions were transferred to the Supreme Court.
However, the Chief Justice told the BCI counsel that it would be desirable if the petitions were heard by one High Court.
Accordingly, the counsel said it would be better if the matter was heard in the Delhi High Court. The Bench issued a notice and directed the matter to be listed for further hearing after two weeks.
