The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) as well as the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) to respond by Monday to a writ petition seeking a direction to enrol law graduates in the State council through videoconferencing due to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices N. Kirubakaran and R. Pongiappan, also directed counsel for the BCI to get specific instructions on the possibility of postponing the last date for submitting applications for the All India Bar Examinations (AIBE) since it was mandatory to mention the Bar Council enrolment number in the applications.
S. Harikrishnan, 24, of Tiruvarur district, had filed the writ petition. He said he completed his law degree from a college in Bengaluru in July 2019.
Thereafter, he made an application for enrolment with the BCTNP and submitted all requisite documents in January. He also attended an inquiry at the council on March 13.
However, the enrolment not take place due to the lockdown. Since he would be allowed to write the AIBE, an aptitude test conducted by the BCI for provisionally enrolled lawyers, only after getting enrolled, he sought a direction to the BCTNP to conduct the enrolment process through videoconferencing.
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