BCI to move SC seeking 3-year practice at bar as condition to be judicial officer

NEW DELHI: The Bar Council of India has said it will file an application before the Supreme Court seeking to make minimum 3-year practice at the bar necessary to become a judicial officer. The BCI, the country's apex lawyers' body, said judicial officers not having practical experience as advocates are mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters.

Presently, fresh law graduates are being allowed to sit for Judicial Service Examination throughout the territory of India without having any practical experience at the Bar. It said that BCI, along with all the State Bar Councils, are strongly in favour of a three year minimum experience as an advocate to be prescribed for being considered eligible to sit for a Judicial Service Exam. “Judicial Officers not having practical experience at the Bar are mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters. Most of such officers are found impolite and impractical in their behaviour with members of the Bar and litigants. “They have lack of understanding of the aspirations and expectations of advocates and litigants in the matter of proper and decent behaviour,” BCI Secretary, Srimanto Sen, said in a press release issued on January 2. The council said that the inexperience at the Bar was one of the primary and major reasons for delays in the disposal of cases in the subordinate Judiciary. “Trained and experienced judicial officers can comprehend and dispose of matters at a much faster pace, thereby leading to efficient administration of justice,” it said.

The requirement of 3 year experience at the Bar had been done away with by the Supreme Court by passing an order in March 2002. The BCI said it will file an application before the apex court to seek the modification of that order. The statement came in the wake of a petition moved before the Supreme Court. The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission had invited applications by a December 2020 notification for appointment of Civil Judges (Junior Division) in the AP State Judicial Services for advocates having a minimum eligibility requirement of three years as practicing advocate.

A plea has already been filed before the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh notification in which the petitioner has challenged it on the grounds that the requirement of three year experience at the Bar is illegal and unwarranted. On the plea, the top court, on December 30, has sought responses from the Andhra Pradesh government and the Registrar (recruitment) of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on a plea challenging the stipulated condition of three years practice as an advocate to be eligible for appearing in exam for appointment as civil judge in the state. The BCI said it will be filing another application to seek impleadment as a party in the said matter and shall plead in favour of the urgency and requirement to have a minimum three year experience at the Bar as a requirement to be eligible to sit in the Judicial Service Exam.

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