“Jeopardizing the right of the Petitioner to practice as an Advocate and affecting her livelihood,” AIBE candidate on delay of results, approaches Supreme Court

The BCI’s (Bar Council of India) delay in declaration of the 17th All India Bar Examination (AIBE) results made an Advocate approach the Supreme Court (SC) for the same. The advocate filed a plea before the top Court stating that the AIBE was conducted on February 5, 2023, yet the results were not declared even after more than 2 months of exam execution. The plea highlighted that BCI’s delay “is jeopardizing the right of the Petitioner to practice as an Advocate and affecting her livelihood.” The petitioner (Mani Munjal) also stated in the plea that “The right to livelihood is one of the facets of right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The life of the person would be miserable if he is unable to earn for his livelihood and therefore the right to earn by engaging in the profession in exercise of the right to practice a profession as enshrined in 19(1)(g) cannot be curtailed or restricted unreasonably.”

The petitioner sought a direction from the BCI to declare examination results without further delay as no appropriate justification was made for delaying the result. Earlier, a provisional answer key was released by the BCI on its website on the day of the examination. Also, the BCI issued a notification with the final answer key and said to declare the results soon without mentioning any date. The petitioner further contended that “Petitioner was enrolled with the Delhi Bar Council on 12.07.2022 and more than 9 months have passed but she has not been able to start practice and is waiting everyday for the result.” He further added that she is not allowed to file Vakalatnama until she passes the AIBE.