IS BCI DECISION RIGHT FOR JUDICIARY ASPIRANTS?

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has announced its intention of banning fresh law graduates from joining the judicial services directly and instead of making them slog it out in the courts for three years first.

The BCI continues:

Most of such officers are found impolite and impractical in their behaviour with the Members of the Bar and Litigants. They have lack of understanding of the aspirations and expectations of Advocates and Litigants in the matter of proper and decent behavior.

the practical concerns against the BCI’s arguments are several:

The pendency of cases has continued rising non-stop in recent years, to which more and better judges may be one of the few effective long-term solutions.

Judicial services exams have become an increasingly popular career choice amongst fresh law graduates, including at national law and other top universities, where graduates could have chosen to join the bar or law firms.

Law firms won’t be able to absorb those law graduates, since the sector is tiny.

The first years at the bar are very hard for most freshers, unless you are well-off or have a godfather/mother in the profession, since many of the more senior lawyers at the bar don’t pay (much or at all) and the financial support provided by the bar councils is minimal.