The Supreme Court on Wednesday favoured conducting a pre-enrolement examination for lawyers to practise in court, saying it would salutary effect on the system burdened with two million advocates.
A day after questioning the Bar Council of India for holding All India Bar Examination without statutory backing, a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit said that nobody should have free ride on the system, which is crying for reform.
“Just because you have law degree, you can’t have licence to practice. Just as you can’t have half-baked doctors, how can you have half-baked lawyers? You can't start digging wells, when the house is on fire. The system is crying for reforms,” the bench said, seeking Bar Council of India, the apex statutory body to regulate legal profession, for a detailed response.
The court, however, felt that current system of making it mandatory every advocate to pass the examination within two years of enrollment affected his or her right to practice profession.
Published 02 March 2016, 19:19 IST