Supreme Court Upholds Constitutional Validity of All India Bar Examination

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court comprising justices AS Oka, Vikram Nath, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna and JK Maheshwari have upheld the Bar Council of India (BCI) powers to conduct the AIBE for aspiring lawyers in India

New Delhi: In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has held that all aspiring advocates in India must pass the AIBE examination, which is conducted by the Bar Council of India.

While delivering its judgement in Anuj Aggarwal v. Union of India, the Supreme Court said that the Rule 9 Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules that make passing AIBE mandatory are constitutionally valid.

The Supreme Court bench also suggested that BCI frame the rule for levying uniform fees for the exam besides asking it to make another rule for enrolled advocates taking up non-legal employment to retake AIBE again. It also asked BCI to take a call on whether it wanted the aspiring lawyers to take the test before enrolment or post enrolment.

The apex court also agreed with the suggestion that final-year law graduates can take the AIBE test. Those who pass the AIBE test are given a certificate.

It is pertinent to note that the AIBE exam is an open-book exam that has multiple-choice questions for the examinees and tests their knowledge of different laws including constitutional law, torts, international law and civil and criminal law.