JUDGMENT

(Oral)

Gopal Sri Ram JCA (delivering the judgment of the court):

This is the judgment of the court.

This appeal raises a short issue of statutory construction. The provision in question is s. 13(1) of the Legal Profession Act 1976("the Act"). That section reads as follows:

Subject to subsection (4) a pupil shall serve his period of pupillage with an advocate and solicitor who is and has been in active practice in Malaysia for a total period of not less than seven years immediately preceding the date of commencement of his pupillage.

Provided that the Bar Council may on special grounds allow a pupil to serve his period of pupillage with an advocate and solicitor of less than seven years' standing.

The factual background against which the interpretive question arises may be shortly stated.

Encik Akberdin is an advocate and solicitor of these courts. He was called to the Bar on 1 March 1991. Soon after that he joined the Judicial and Legal Service. He was a magistrate. He served as a magistrate in Kuala Lumpur for six years. Thereafter he resigned and returned to private practice.

Cik Faradinah binti Abu Bakar is a graduate of the International Islamic University. She obtaine