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A division bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued certain suggestion to the Bar Council of India while taking into consideration the suggestions made by the Amicus Curiae, KV Vishwanathan, Senior Advocate.

Firstly, the court noted that there may be law graduates who are carrying on jobs but would like to take the examination of the Bar Council for entry into the profession, and thus those candidates with a job can be issued a roll number to take the examination and they can seek enrollment thereafter.

To this the Court said,

"...the suggestion made is that the result of the Bar exam, if successful, would hold good for three years within which the candidate can take the choice and if he continues his job for a longer period of time, he may be again required to take the Bar exam at the appropriate stage, as such long hiatus period may otherwise snap the link."

The Amicus Curiae in this regard also suggested that there can be a viva exam for such candidates.

Secondly, the court dealt with having better accountability from law colleges on account of their growth and the absence of requisite faculty.

"A more monitored process by the Bar Council of India would be required to ensure that a law college which obtain recognition once, does not rest on that and is required to maintain the parameters as set forth by the Bar Council", said the Court.

Thirdly, with a view to make the bar exam more meaningful, the top court has suggested that exam process can be one to test the skill and knowledge of a practitioner of law in a better manner not necessarily based on a rote ability but on analytical thinking process.

To ensure that the candidates don’t take advantage of random answers made without any consequence of a wrong answers, assigning 1/4th negative for every wrong answer has also been suggested.

Lastly and most importantly, the Court emphasized on evolving a fair system for juniors to find placement in chambers.

A bench of Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh has thus requested the Bar Council of India to act with expedition in the aforesaid process despite the large number of tasks to perform.

The matter will now be heard on April 12.

Case Title: BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA v. TWINKLE RAHUL MANGAONKAR & ORS.