The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for advocates to clear the AIBE before being entitled to practice, and the need to balance the rights of advocates with the doctrine of proportionality.

ORDER

1. The Bar Council of India (BCI) has filed the status report dated 11.04.2022 and we have the benefit of the additional note filed by Mr. K.V. Viswanathan, learned Amicus Curiae. Taking into consideration the order passed on 15.03.2022 which has resulted in the aforesaid being filed, we consider it appropriate to take the matter forward in the following terms :

ROLL NUMBER AND ALL INDIA BAR EXAMINATION (AIBE)

2. The Bar Council of India appears to have some apprehensions in the path ahead on this aspect on account of Rules prescribing compulsory internship being struck down by the Supreme Court in the case of V. Sudeer vs. BCI (1999) 3 SCC 176.

3. The subject matter debated in the aforesaid judgment was the challenge to the validity of the Bar Council of India Training Rules, 1995 and prohibiting enrolment as an Advocate unless he/she was eligible to do so on having undergone training under the Rules. The trainee was enrolled provisionally as "Trainee Advocate" with a limited right to enter appearance in courts and seniority was to be taken from the date of provisional enrolment. This was held not permissible as per the powers conferred on the BCI.

4. The AIBE was introduced subsequent to the aforesaid decision by insertion of Rules 9 to 11 in Part VI, Chapter III of the BCI Rules dealing with the conditions for right to practice. The prerequisite under Rule 9 is that an Advocate must have successfully passed the AIBE exam before being enrolled and a certificate of practice is provided to them under Rule 11. The provisional enrolment has a limited validity with an undertaking by the Advocate that he will practice as an advocate provisionally till he qualifies under the AIBE within the stipulated period.

5. A reading of the aforesaid shows that the right to be enrolled arises from his/her graduation in the law Degree but subject to clearance of AIBE exam. The right to practice under Chapter IV of the Advocates Act would not come into force immediately but would arise only after clearance of the AIBE exam.

6. The aforesaid process was not something which is required to be interfered with by us, but the matter has to be looked in from a different perspective. A person who graduates in law does not get an immediate right to practice before he/she clears the AIBE exam. It is a provisional enrolment with a limited validity and the undertaking given by the candidates. The objective of the provisional enrolment is to facilitate the writing of the AIBE.

7. The solution suggested by learned Amicus Curiae seems to be appropriate, i.e., the provisional enrolment No. would have to be maintained in two separate registers with a 'B' register of such enrolment for candidates who instead of pursuing the path of a legal practice immediately may have obtained a job. The employment will be an impediment in their being enrolled to practice but that should not be an impediment in taking the examination. The undertaking in such a scenario would be that the person would not be entitled to practice till such time as the person is in employment. This would not, in our view, fall foul of the judgment in V. Sudeer's case (supra).

8. The Rules 47 to 49 of Part VI, Chapter II, Section VII of the BCI Rules stipulate that a person who was entitled to practice would not be engaged in any other employment or profession and if he/she were so engaged, he/she would cease to practice as an Advocate so long as he/she continues to be in employment.

9. Thus a person who obtains the provisional enrolment to enter into a 'B' Register with continuing wish for existing profession/employment unless he attends to the AIBE cannot insist on there being an existing right to practice merely upon obtaining such provisional enrolment in view of the bar created against practice on account of the employment.

10. The solution can be that upon clearing the exam, a transition period of 6 months may be given within which period he or she will be required to submit an undertaking that he/