In a significant ruling, the Gujarat High Court directed the State Bar Council of Gujarat to issue provisional certificates to law graduates from certain educational institutions, enabling them to appear for the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) 2024. The affected students hail from government or grant-in-aid institutions known as Centers of Legal Education (CLEs), which had not been approved by the Bar Council of India (BCI) due to unpaid regularization fees.
Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee extended the relief initially sought by a group of petitioners to all similarly affected graduates, noting it would be unjust to exclude those who had not individually petitioned the court. “It would be unjust to law graduates who have not or could not approach this Court by filing writ petitions for similar relief and who would be denied the opportunity to appear in AIBE-2024,” the judge stated in the order dated October 21.
The interim order requires the Bar Council of Gujarat to process enrollment forms from all eligible graduates of the specified CLEs and issue them provisional practice certificates until a final decision is made in the ongoing case.
Advocate Mitul Shelat represented the petitioners, while the respondents included Advocate Nidhi Vyas (AGP) and Senior Advocate Mehul Shah. The counsel for the petitioners highlighted that the non-processing of their enrollment forms by the Bar Council of Gujarat had left them unable to appear for the upcoming AIBE.
In response, Senior Advocate Mehul S. Shah informed the court that the BCI had, through a communication from its advocate Manan Shah, agreed to allow the petitioners to appear in AIBE-2024 pending the resolution of the current petitions. However, he emphasized that this should not set a precedent.
