9,000 advocates likely to be barred from practice in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: More than 9,000 lawyers, young and old, actively practising across Tamil Nadu are facing the danger of being barred by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for two reasons — failure to clear the mandatory All India Bar Exam (AIBE) and non-payment of subscription fee to Advocates Welfare Fund.
More than 2,000 young advocates who have failed to clear AIBE are staring at instant bar from practising before any court or tribunal, co-chairman of Bar Council of India S Prabakaran told TOI.
“In 2010, BCI made it compulsory for lawyers to clear AIBE within two years of their enrolment. BCI conducts the exam twice a year. So, a newly enrolled advocate gets four attempts to clear the exam. But still every year many fail to clear it compelling us to take such action,” Prabakaran said.
7,000 lawyers to be debarred for not paying subscription
On allegations that the questions in the exam are hard to crack for young lawyers, Prabakaran added that it was an open-book format. “The questions are a bit hard as we have to maintain the quality of legal education in the country. However, it cannot be tough for a student who had successfully completed law degree with good marks,” he said.
Since 2010, at least 34,235 people have enrolled as advocates in Tamil Nadu. “As of December last, 16,836 advocates cleared the exam. In 2017, we suspended about 2,000 advocates who could not clear the exam even after 2 years. As 574 of them cleared it in later attempts, we revoked the suspension. As per current data, 6,077 such advocates are yet to clear the examination, and this includes some lawyers who are still within the 2-year period,” said C Raja Kumar, secretary, Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Explaining the mechanism to check such defaults, Raja Kumar added that though the state bar council provided a permanent enrolment number to new advocates, they were given only temporary identity cards. “We keep a tab on the examination results every year and take action against lawyers who fail to clear it,” he said.
The list of lawyers facing prohibition includes 7,000 senior members of the Bar having at least 25 years of practice behind them. They would be debarred for failing to pay subscription for the Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI) which is mandatory. The Supreme Court has made it clear that lawyers who do not subscribe to the fund cannot be permitted to practice before any court in the country. “As per Rule 40, Chapter-II, Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules every person who enrols as an advocate is mandated to subscribe for the Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI). The same must be renewed every three years. From 1993, the subscription was converted for life time and it was collected mandatorily during enrolment,” S Prabakaran, co-chairman of Bar Council of India, told TOI.