New Delhi, January 3, 2021
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has expressed to make mandatory three years experience at Bar as eligibility criteria for a candidate to appear for a Judicial Service Examination.
Opposing the present practice of allowing the freshers to appear in the judicial examination, the top lawyers body said it will file an application before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to make minimum three-year experience at the Bar mandatory to become a judicial officer.
Issuing a press release, the BCI said judicial officers not having practical experience as advocates were mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters., BCI, along with all state Bar councils, was strongly in favour of minimum three-year experience as an advocate to be prescribed for being considered eligible to appear in a judicial service exam.
Judicial officers not having practical experience at the Bar are mostly found to be incapable and inept in handling matters. Most of such officers are found to be impolite and impractical in their behaviour with members of the Bar and litigants,” Srimanto Sen, BCI secretary, said.
The council said inexperience at the Bar was one of the primary and major reasons for the delay in the disposal of cases in the subordinate judiciary.
“Trained and experienced judicial officers can comprehend and dispose of matters at a much faster pace, thereby leading to efficient administration of justice,” it said.
The requirement of three-year experience at the Bar had been done away with by the SC in March 2002, ” the BCI said adding “it would file an application before the apex court to seek the modification of that order.”The Supreme Court is hearing a petition challenging the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission’s December 2020 notification. The commission has invited applications for the appointment of civil judges (junior division) in the AP State Judicial Services for advocates having a minimum experience of three years. The petitioner has challenged it on the grounds that the requirement of three year experience at the Bar was illegal and unwarranted.
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