Vande Matram! In this article, I am discussing the Bar Council of India which is in the light of the Bar Council of India rule and the Advocates Act, 1961. Let’s begin.
Bar
Council of India:
Introduction:
The
Bar Council of India (BCI) was established by Parliament under Section 4 of the
Advocates Act, 1961. BCI is a statutory body that regulates and represents the
Indian Bar. The headquarter of BCI is in New Delhi. It is headed by the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman. BCI comes under the domain of the Ministry of Law and
Justice, Government of India.
As
per Section 5 of the Advocates Act, 1961 BCI is a corporate body having an
interminable succession and a common seal. The BCI has constituted a few
committees, for example, the Education Committee, the Disciplinary Committee,
the Executive Committee, the Legal Aid Committee, the Advocates Welfare Fund
Committee, the Rules Committee, etc.
BCI
performs the regulatory function by prescribing standards of professional
conduct and etiquette and by exercising disciplinary jurisdiction over the bar.
BCI additionally sets standards for legal education and gives recognition to
Universities whose degree in law fills in as a qualification for students to
enroll themselves as advocates after graduation.
In
addition, BCI performs certain representative functions by protecting the
rights, privileges, and interests of advocates and through the creation of funds
for providing financial assistance to organise welfare schemes for them.
History:
After
enforcement of the Constitution of India on 26th January 1950, it
was emphasized that there should be uniformity in law examinations conducted by
different universities of the country. For this purpose, the need for All India
Bar was felt and a resolution was passed for the need of an All Indian Bar in the
annual meeting of the Inter-University Board held in Madras.
In
this regard, on April 12, 1951, a comprehensive bill to amend the Indian Bar
Councils Act was introduced in the Parliament of India. In August 1951, Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar, Law Minister proposed to set a committee to prepare a
report on the various aspects like the desirability and feasibility of a
unified Bar for the whole of India; the establishment of a separate Bar Council
for the Supreme court; and all the related matters. This All India Bar
Committee was led by Justice S. R. Das and had other seven members. The
committee submitted its detailed report on 30 March 1953. The report consisted
of a proposal to establish a Bar council for each state and an All India Bar
Council at the national level.
In
the meantime, the Law Commission of India was assigned the job of assembling a
report on judicial administration reforms. A comprehensive Advocated Bill was
presented in the Parliament which brought about the Advocates Act, 1961 to
implement the suggestion of the All India Bar Committee and the Law
Commission’s proposals related to the legal profession. The Bar Council of
India was established under Section 4 of the Advocates Act, 1961.
Constitution
of Bar Council of India and its members:
Section
4 of the Advocates Act provides for the constitution of the Bar Council of
India. Section 4 reads as follows:
4. Bar Council of India.―(1) There shall be a Bar
Council for the territories to which this Act extends to be known as the Bar
Council of India which shall consist of the following members, namely:―
(a) the Attorney-General of India, ex officio;
(b) the Solicitor-General of India, ex officio;
(c) one member elected by each State Bar Council from amongst its
members.
(1A) No person shall be eligible for being elected as a member of
the Bar Council of India unless he possesses the qualifications specified in
the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 3.
(2) There shall be a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman of the Bar Council
of India elected by the Council in such manner as may be prescribed.
(2A) A person holding office as Chairman or as Vice-Chairman of the
Bar Council of India immediately before the commencement of the Advocates
(Amendment) Act, 1977 (38 of 1977), shall, on such commencement, cease to hold
office as Chairman or Vice-Chairman, as the case may be:
Provided that such person shall continue to carry on the duties of
his office until the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman, as the case may be, of the
Council, elected after the commencement of the Advocates (Amendment) Act, 1977
(38 of 1977), assumes charge of the office.
(3) The term of office of a member of the Bar Council of India
elected by the State Bar Council shall,—
(i) in the case of a member of a State Bar Council who holds office
ex officio, be two years from the date of his election or till he ceases to be
a member of the State Bar Council, whichever is earlier; and
(ii) in any other case, be for the period for which he holds office
as a member of the State Bar
Council:
Provided that every such member shall continue to hold office as a
member of the Bar Council of India until his successor is elected.
Thus
as per Section 4(1), there shall be three types of members of the Bar Council of
India:
a)
the Attorney General of India, who is an ex-officio member
b)
the Solicitor General of India, who is an ex-officio member
c)
each state bar council in India will elect a member from amongst its members to
be a member of the Bar Council of India.
According to Section 4(1A), the following qualifications must be there for an advocate to be a
member of the Bar Council of India:
a)
all the members are subject to the rules made by the Bar Council of India
regarding elections of the members of State Bar Council,
b)
such advocate must have for at least ten years been advocates on a State roll,
Section
4(2) says that there shall be a Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the BCI, who are
elected by the members of BCI.
Section
4(2A) provides for the circumstances due to the Advocates (Amendment) Act, 1977.
Term
of the members of BCI:
Section
4(3) provides for the term of office of the elected members of BCI.
Clause
(i) of Section 4(3) gives that if an ex-officio member of a state bar
council has been elected to be a member of BCI, then his term will be 2 years
from the date of his election. If such ex-officio elected member ceases to
be a member of the state bar council before the completion of two years, then his
term of office in BCI will be terminated with that.
Clause
(ii) of Section 4(3) provides that if an elected member of state bar council becomes
an elected member of BCI then his term of office shall be for the period for
which he holds office as a member of the State Bar Council. This means as the term
at State Bar Councils ends, the term at BCI will also end. But all these members
shall continue to hold the office of BCI as members till their successor at respective
state bat council is elected.
We
have discussed functions of the Bar Council of India in Article “Functions
of Bar Councils as per Section 6 and Section 7”
Section
15 of the Advocates Act provides for the powers of Bar Councils which apply to BCI as well as state bar councils.
Note:
Part in Red words is part of Bare Act – Advocates
Act, 1961.
If
you want to know about specific provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961 and the
Bar Council Rules then let me know in the comments below.
To
know the references and to read more articles related to Professional ethics
and professional accounting system please visit this page Legal
Profession: Professional Ethics and Professional accounting system.
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