Supreme Court dismisses petition seeking to lower the cut-off for the AIBE, says, ‘Padho Bhai’

Today (July 09, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) of India dismissed a petition seeking to lower the cut-off for the AIBE (All India Bar Examination). The plea was heard by a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. While rejecting the petition, the CJI observed that lowering the cut-off would negatively impact the quality of the lawyers admitted to the Bar. CJI Chandrachud said, “They have put a cut-off of 45 for the general category and 40 for SC/ST. What kind of lawyer will the person be if they cannot score this much? You are asking to lower it to 40 and 35!” CJI Chandrachud told the petitioner in passing, ‘Padho Bhai’. As per the recent RTI report, it has been revealed that more than 50% of the law aspirants failed to clear the 2023 AIBE exam. It has been observed that by maintaining the current cut-off score, the top court’s primary motive is to allow only qualified law aspirants to enter the legal profession.