The Madras High Court on Friday stayed a single judge's order directing the Union government to consider positively, to entrust the functions of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to an Expert Committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.
The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K Kaul and Justice T.S. Shivagnanam passed the direction on an appeal moved by the BCI challenging the single judge's order dated October 06.
Besides a direction to handover the functions of BCI to an expert body, Justice N. Kirubakaran also passed 13 other directions including to scrap three year law course throughout the country and to cancel the recognition provided to advocate associations for the past 20 years. The judge passed the orders on a petition moved by an advocate to prevent the entry of persons with criminal background into the legal profession.
The directions by the single judge created wide debate among the legal fraternity, as it questioned the functioning of the BCI, a statutory autonomous body governing the advocate community, prompting the BCI to move the appeal.
When the appeal came up for hearing on Monday, the Bench passed an interim stay to four of the fourteen directions made by the single judge.
