The Rest of the Bar Council and Enrolment Provisions
Chapter Six
Syllabus topic 1, "Objective of Legal Education"
Pages 21 to 25 of 543
In one line
Between the provisions that create the Bar Councils and the provision that admits a person to the roll sit about thirty sections of machinery, and a student who has met only sections 7 and 24 has met the Act in two places and not read it.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: Chapters I to IV of the Advocates Act 1961 run from section 1 to section 34 and comprise the preliminary provisions, the constitution and working of the Bar Councils, the admission and enrolment of advocates, and the right to practise; besides sections 7 and 24, which govern legal education directly, they contain the provisions on the term and disqualification of members, the machinery of Bar Council business, the maintenance and transfer of rolls, seniority, the certificate of enrolment, the disposal of applications, and the classes of person entitled to practise.
Chapter I: sections 1 and 2
Section 1 gives the Act its short title, extends it to the whole of India and provides for commencement on such date as the Central Government may appoint, with different dates possible for different provisions and different areas.
Section 2 is the definitions section, and four of its terms are used throughout this book: an advocate is a person entered on any roll under the Act; a legal practitioner includes an advocate, a vakil and a pleader; the roll is the roll of advocates prepared and maintained under the Act; and State Bar Council and Bar Council of India carry the meanings sections 3 and 4 give them.
Chapter II, the working of the Bar Councils: sections 8 to 15
Section 8 fixes the term of office of the members of a State Bar Council.
Section 8A provides for a special Committee to act in the absence of an election, so that the functions of a Bar Council do not lapse when its term ends without a successor being elected.
Section 9 provides for disciplinary committees, and section 9A for legal aid committees, which is the Act's own legal aid provision and is taken up in Module II at chapter 550.
Section 10 provides for committees other than disciplinary committees, and this is where the Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council of India sits. That committee is the body rules 22, 25 and 26 of the Rules of Legal Education send inspection reports to, chapter 180, so section 10 is more important to this syllabus than its bare words suggest.
Section 10A governs the transaction of business by Bar Councils and their committees, including meetings and quorum.
Section 10B provides for the disqualification of a member of a Bar Council.
Section 11 provides for the staff of a Bar Council, including a secretary and an accountant.
The Rest of the Bar Council and Enrolment Provisions
Section 12 provides for accounts and audit.
Section 13 saves action taken from being invalidated by a vacancy in a Bar Council or a committee.
Section 14 provides that an election to a Bar Council shall not be questioned on certain grounds, notably that the electoral roll was defective.
Section 15 is the power of a Bar Council to make rules, and it is the general rule making power that stands beside the Bar Council of India's special power in section 49.
Chapter III, admission and enrolment: sections 16 to 28
Section 16 provides for two classes of advocates, senior advocates and other advocates, and for the designation of a senior advocate by the Supreme Court or a High Court with the advocate's consent.
Section 17 requires every State Bar Council to prepare and maintain a roll of advocates, in which the names are entered in the order of seniority.
Section 18 provides for the transfer of a name from one State roll to another.
Section 19 requires State Bar Councils to send copies of their rolls to the Bar Council of India.
Section 20 made special provision for the enrolment of certain Supreme Court advocates during the transition to the Act.
Section 21 provides for the determination of disputes regarding seniority. It is the provision the Supreme Court referred to in Bonnie Foi Law College when considering how seniority would work under a bar examination, chapter 420.
Section 22 provides for the certificate of enrolment, issued by the State Bar Council to every person whose name is entered on its roll.
Section 23 provides for the right of pre-audience, ranking the Attorney General, the Solicitor General, Additional Solicitors General, Advocates General, senior advocates and other advocates in that order.
Section 24, the central provision for this syllabus, is taught at chapter 20, and section 24A, disqualification for enrolment, with it.
Section 25 names the authority to whom an application for enrolment is made, which is the State Bar Council in whose roll the applicant seeks enrolment.
Section 26 governs the disposal of applications for admission, including reference to the enrolment committee, and section 26A empowers a State Bar Council to remove from its roll the name of an advocate who is dead or who applies for removal.
Section 27 provides that where a Bar Council has refused an application, another Bar Council shall not entertain it except with the previous consent of the Bar Council that refused it and of the Bar Council of India.
Section 28 is the power of a State Bar Council to make rules for this Chapter, including on the time and manner of applications and the enrolment committee's conditions, subject to the approval of the Bar Council of India.
The Rest of the Bar Council and Enrolment Provisions
Chapter IV, the right to practise: sections 29 to 34
Section 29 provides that from an appointed day there shall be only one class of persons entitled to practise the profession of law, namely advocates.
Section 30, the right of advocates to practise in all courts and tribunals in India, is taught at chapter 420 with the bar examination litigation.
Section 31 has been repealed.
Section 32 empowers a court, authority or person to permit any person not enrolled as an advocate to appear in a particular case.
Section 33 provides that no person shall be entitled to practise in any court or before any authority unless he is enrolled as an advocate, except as otherwise provided in the Act or any other law.
Section 34 empowers a High Court to make rules laying down the conditions subject to which an advocate shall be permitted to practise in the High Court and the courts subordinate to it.
Why a student should read the machinery
Because two of these sections decide questions students actually meet. Section 27 is why a person refused enrolment by one State Bar Council cannot simply apply to another; section 32 is why a person who is not an advocate is sometimes seen appearing in a particular matter.
Because section 10 is where the Legal Education Committee comes from, and the whole inspection and approval machinery of chapter 180 runs through that committee.
And because reading an Act in two places is not reading it. A candidate who has met only sections 7 and 24 knows the two provisions that answer the syllabus question and cannot say how the body that exercises them is constituted, staffed, funded or replaced when its term expires.
A worked example
A law graduate applies for enrolment to a State Bar Council and is refused. Trace the machinery.
Which body, and how constituted. The State Bar Council under section 3, whose members hold office for the term section 8 fixes; if its term has expired without an election, the special Committee under section 8A acts in its place.
Who decides the application. The application is made under section 25 to the State Bar Council in whose roll enrolment is sought, and is disposed of under section 26, which routes it through the enrolment committee.
On what grounds it may be refused. Section 24 sets the conditions, and section 24A the disqualifications.
What he cannot do next. Apply to a different State Bar Council. Section 27 provides that where one Bar Council has refused an application, another shall not entertain it except with the previous consent of the refusing Council and of the Bar Council of India.
The Rest of the Bar Council and Enrolment Provisions
What he can do in the meantime. Nothing as an advocate: section 33 provides that no person may practise unless enrolled, and section 29 makes advocates the only recognised class entitled to practise law. But a court may under section 32 permit a person not enrolled to appear in a particular case.
And where the rules governing all of it come from. Section 28 for the State Bar Council's rules on this Chapter, subject to the approval of the Bar Council of India, and section 15 for its general rule making power.
Seven sections, none of which any topic label names, and without them the refusal cannot be explained at all.
Quick revision
Chapter I: s.1 title, extent and commencement; s.2 definitions, including advocate, legal practitioner and roll.
Chapter II, the machinery: s.8 term of office; s.8A special Committee in the absence of election; s.9 disciplinary committees; s.9A legal aid committees; s.10 committees other than disciplinary, where the Legal Education Committee sits; s.10A transaction of business; s.10B disqualification of members; s.11 staff; s.12 accounts and audit; s.13 vacancies not to invalidate; s.14 elections not to be questioned on certain grounds; s.15 power to make rules.
Chapter III, enrolment: s.16 senior and other advocates; s.17 the roll; s.18 transfer; s.19 copies to the Bar Council of India; s.20 transitional enrolment; s.21 seniority disputes; s.22 certificate of enrolment; s.23 right of pre-audience; s.24 and s.24A at chapter 20; s.25 the authority; s.26 disposal of applications; s.26A removal from the roll; s.27 application once refused; s.28 State Bar Council rules.
Chapter IV, practice: s.29 advocates the only class; s.30 at chapter 420; s.31 repealed; s.32 permission to appear in a particular case; s.33 only advocates entitled to practise; s.34 High Court rules.
Test yourself
1. Which section creates the committee through which the whole legal education machinery runs, and how? Section 10, which provides for committees of a Bar Council other than disciplinary committees. The Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council of India sits under it, and rules 22, 25 and 26 of the Rules of Legal Education 2008 send inspection reports and recommendations to it.
2. What do sections 27 and 32 each provide? Section 27 provides that where one Bar Council has refused an application for enrolment, another shall not entertain it except with the previous consent of the refusing Bar Council and of the Bar Council of India. Section 32 empowers a court, authority or person to permit a person not enrolled as an advocate to appear in a particular case.
The Rest of the Bar Council and Enrolment Provisions
3. Define advocate, legal practitioner and roll as section 2 uses them. An advocate is a person entered on any roll under the Act; a legal practitioner includes an advocate, a vakil and a pleader; and the roll is the roll of advocates prepared and maintained under the Act.
4. Why does a book on legal education cover the Bar Council machinery at all? Because the body that lays down standards of legal education under section 7(1)(h) is constituted, staffed, funded and replaced by these sections, so a student who knows only sections 7 and 24 cannot say who exercises the power or what happens when the Council's term expires without an election.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.