What are the Conditions for Enrolling as an Advocate?

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” -Marcus Aurelius

Before 1926, the various grades of legal practice i.e., vakils, advocates, attorneys, and pleaders were not unified. The Indian Bar Councils Act, 1926 was passed by the Parliament to solve this problem, and later the Advocates Act, 1961 was passed to further the same initiative.

The Advocates Act, 1961 was enacted by the Parliament with the aim to “amend and consolidate the law relating to legal practitioners”[1]. Through this act, the admission, practice, regulations, as well as the responsibility for the improvement of the profession, was handed directly to the legal profession itself while providing for the constitution of an All-India Bar and Bar Councils.

Conditions for enrolling as an advocate:

Chapter III of the Advocates Act, 1961 lays down the provisions for the admission and enrollment of Advocates into the Bar Council. A person may be qualified to enroll as an advocate with the State Bar Council if they fulfill the following required conditions [as stated in Chapter III (Sec 24)of the Advocates Act, 1961 as:

  1. He/she is a citizen of India;
  2. He/she must have completed the age of 21 years;
  3. He/she must have obtained a degree in law undergoing a law course with a three-year degree program or any other program not less than two academic years from any university in India which is recognized by the Bar Council of India.
  4. He/she clears the Bar Council of India exam and pays the stamp duty and an enrolment fee. The applicants if admitted, are required to pay an enrolment fee of six hundred rupees to the State Bar Council and an amount of one hundred and fifty rupees to the Bar Council of India. In case a person is a member of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes, he/she must pay an enrolment fee of one hundred rupees to the State Bar Council and an amount of twenty-five rupees to the Bar Council of India.
  5. He/she fulfills all other conditions specified under the State Bar Council under Chapter III of this Act.

The State Bar Council may refuse to enroll a person as an advocate with a law degree.[2]The above-mentioned conditions are the essentials for enrollment in the State roll. Section 20 of the Advocates Act, 1961 states special provisions for enrolment of Supreme Court advocates.

Reference:

[1]http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Advocates-Act1961.pdf

[2]Dr. Haniraj Chauhan v. Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (1996)

This article is written by Pritha Ghosh student of 2nd year B.A.LL.B at Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, Pune

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