Q. Explain the role of Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils in Legal Profession.

5 marks
Q. Elucidate the Policy, composition, powers and functions of the Bar Council of India
as mentioned under the Advocates Act, 1961.

Bar Council of India has been established under the Advocates Act 1961 to act as a statutory
and regulatory body for the legal profession and education in India as well as being the
representative of the legal profession in the country.
The Bar Councils of India have been established under Section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961
on the recommendation of the All-India Bar Committee in the year 1961 to operate on the
national level along with the respective State Bar Councils. The State Bar Councils have been
established under Section 3 of the Act.

COMPOSITION OF BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA

Section 4 (1) of the Advocate Act 1961 provides that Bar Council of India which shall consist
of the following members, namely —
(a) the Attorney-General of India, ex officio;
(b) the Solicitor-General of India, ex officio;
(c) one member elected by each State Bar Council from amongst its members.
Section 4(2) of the said Act provides that there shall be a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman of
the Bar Council of India elected by the Council.

FUNCTIONS OF BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA

Section 7 of the Advocates Act, 1961 provides that the functions of the Bar Council of India
shall be —
(i) to lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates;
(ii) to lay down the procedure to be followed by its disciplinary committee;
(iii) to safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates;
(iv) to promote and support law reform;
(v) to deal with any matter arising under this Act, which may be referred to it by a State Bar
Council;
(vi) to exercise general supervision and control over State Bar Councils;
(vii) to promote legal education and to lay down standards of such education;
(viii) to recognize Universities whose degree in law shall be a qualification for enrollment as
an advocate and to visit and inspect Universities;
(ix) to conduct seminars and organize talks on legal topics and publish journals and papers of
legal interest;
(x) to organize legal aid to the poor;
(xi) to recognize on a reciprocal basis foreign qualifications in law obtained outside India for
the purpose of admission as an advocate under this Act;
(xii) to manage and invest the funds of the Bar Council;
(xiii) to provide for the election of its members;

The Bar Council of India also has the following functions to perform-
i. Giving financial assistance to the State Bar Council for the purpose of performing its
function.
ii. Preventing a citizen of any country from practicing the profession of law in India when
that country prevents citizens of India from practicing the profession of law in their
country.
iii. Calling the record of any proceedings from any State Bar Council or Committee thereof
to see legality and proprietary of such proceeding.
iv. Giving its own order to any of its committee except the disciplinary committee.
v. Giving directions to the State Bar Council or any other Committee for the proper and
efficient discharge of the functions of the State Bar Council.

CASE LAWS

Bar Council of Maharashtra v. M.V Dabholkar

Facts: The Respondents were lawyers practicing in the criminal courts and were charged
with professional misconduct under Section 35(1) of the Advocates Act 1961. They stood
outside the Magistrate courts and tried to snatch briefs from potential litigants in an ugly
scrimmage. They even engaged in physical fights and promised undercut fees to the litigants
to secure work for themselves.
Held: The ethics for advocates do not permit advocates to advertise even by way of
soliciting, scrambling or any other obnoxious practices therefore it was held that the
Respondents were guilty of professional misconduct and suspended them from practicing for
a period of three years.

D. Saibaba v. Bar Council of India

Facts:
The marriage had broken down and the spouses were on cross ends with each other. The wife
filed a complaint under Section 35 of the Advocates Act complaining of professional
misconduct on the grounds that the appellant was running a telephone booth under the
handicap quota in spite of being enrolled as an Advocate.
The appellant said that he was indeed handicap and had started the said telephone booth
before he was enrolled as an Advocate and following that, the booth was being run by his old
parents.
Held:
The Bar Council of India directed the appellant to surrender the telephone booth, presumably
forming an opinion that irrespective of who was running the booth, the booth was registered
under the handicap quota in the name of the appellant.
As the appellant eventually failed to surrender the STD booth, the Bar Council passed an
order advising the State Bar Council to delete his name from the rolls of Advocates.

POWERS OF BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA

The Bar Council of India has the power to make rules under the provisions of Section 15 of
the Advocates Act. The Bar Council has the power to manage and invest the funds given to
them and use and invest them at their own discretion for organizing seminars, workshops, and
legal aid.
Section 49 confers on the Bar Council of India general power to make Rules for discharging
its functions under this Act.
Section 36 empowers the Bar Council of India to punish an Advocate for professional or
other misconduct.
Section 37 empowers the Bar Council of India to hear appeals against the order of the
Disciplinary Committee of a Bar Council.
The Bar council also has the power to set up various committees for the smooth functioning
and the distribution of various powers. Chapter III of the Bar Council of India Rules permits
the Council to form more committees in addition to those specified in the Act. Some of the
committees of the Bar Council are as follows:
a) Legal Education Committee (Section 9) has the power to make recommendations to the
council for laying the standard of legal education. This committee also goes for
inspection to different universities and reports to BCI.
b) Executive Committee (Section 10) deals with all the questions related to the
management of funds, affairs of the staff, allotment of work, audit, accounts, library,
and legal publications delegation.
c) Disciplinary Committee of BCI hears an application for revision by persons against
summary dismissal of their complaints against advocates for professional misconduct,
by the state bar councils.
d) Advocate Welfare Committee is empowered by the Advocates Welfare Act, 2001. This
committee looks after the application procedure made by advocates for welfare funds.
e) Legal Aid Committee has the power to offer services to the poor, who cannot afford the
services of a lawyer. This committee gives the payment of the court from the charges
of preparing a case, drafting to filing the case.

BCI has the power to discontinue of recognition of any University which is based on the
recommendation by the Legal Education Committee.
BCI has the power to conduct the All-India Bar Examination (since 2010) which tests an
advocate’s ability to practice law. An advocate must pass this examination to practice law in
any court.
BCI also conducts the National Moot Court Competition which promotes advocacy skills
amongst law students through Bar Council of India Trust (public charitable trust). There is an
Indian Bar Review which is a quarterly journal of BCI and is among the top legal periodicals
in the country.
 STATE BAR COUNCILS

The State Bar Councils are statutory bodies established under Section 3 of the Advocates Act,
1961. These were set up as different councils for the states and union territories of India.
They act as regulatory bodies, making rules for the legal profession and education in their
respective states and also act as the representatives of the advocates of that state, thereby
acting in their interests.

STRUCTURE OF STATE BAR COUNCILS

Section 3 of the Advocates Act mandates that there shall be a Bar Council for every state, and
it shall be called as Bar Council of that state.
As per Section 5 of the Act, every Bar Council shall be a body corporate with perpetual
succession and common seal. It can acquire and hold properties. It can sue or be sued.
There shall be a Chairman and Vice Chairman of each Bar Council elected by the Council.
The Advocate – General of a state shall be ex-officio member of that State Bar Council.
There shall be fifteen members in a State Bar council if the electorate doesn’t exceed five
thousand. And it becomes twenty if the electorate ranges between five thousand and ten
thousand. There shall be twenty five members in the Council if the number exceeds ten
thousand.
The members of the Council are elected through system of proportional representation by
means of the single transferable vote from amongst Advocates on the electoral roll of the
State Bar Council.
As per Section 8 of the Act, the tenure of a member shall be five years from the date of
publication of the result. But if the Council fails to conduct an election before the expiry of
the term, it may extend such tenure by a maximum of six months.

FUNCTIONS OF STATE BAR COUNCIL

Section 6 of the Act lays down the important functions of a State Bar Council. They are:
i. To admit persons as Advocates on its roll.
ii. To prepare and maintain such roll.
iii. To entertain and determine cases of misconduct against Advocates on its roll.
iv. To safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of Advocates on its roll.
v. To promote and support law reform.
 vi. To conduct seminars and organise talks on legal topics by eminent jurists and publish
journals and papers of legal interest.
vii. To organise legal aid to the poor.
viii. To manage and invest the funds of the Bar Council.
ix. To provide for the election of its members.
x. To visit and inspect Universities in accordance with the rules for imparting legal
education.
xi. To promote the growth of Bar Associations for the purpose of effective implementation
of welfare schemes introduced by the Council.
xii. To perform any other functions as prescribed by the Act.
xiii. The time within which and form in which an Advocate shall express his intention for
the entry of his name in the roll of State Bar Council.
xiv. The form in which an application shall be made to the Bar Council for admission as an
Advocate on its roll.
xv. The conditions subject to which a person may be admitted as an Advocate on any such
roll.
xvi. The instalments in which the enrolment fee may be paid.

COMMITTEES
Various Committees may be constituted by the State Bar Councils for discharging certain
duties. Such as:
Disciplinary Committee
The disciplinary committees are constituted to deal with the cases of professional misconduct
of Advocates. The Council may constitute one or more disciplinary committees. It shall
consist of three persons in out of which two persons shall be members of the Council and the
remaining one being selected from the non-member Advocates.
The senior most among the members of the Committee shall be the Chairman of the
Disciplinary Committee.
The Disciplinary Committee shall have the same power as that of a civil Court in matters
relating to the disposal of disputes relating to professional misconduct.
Legal Aid Committee
One or more legal aid committees may be constituted by the Council. It shall have minimum
five members; however it cannot exceed nine.
Executive Committee
It shall consist of five members and they are elected by the Council amongst its members.
Enrolment Committee
There must be three members in the enrolment committee who shall be elected from the
members of the Council. A State Bar Council shall refer every application for admission as
an advocate to its enrolment committee and it shall decide on the same.
Standing Committees
POWER OF BAR COUNCILS TO MAKE RULES
Every State Bar Council has the power to make rules regarding the following matters:
i. The election of members of the Bar Council. This will include the manner of conducting
election, eligibility to cast postal vote, manner of publishing results etc.
ii. The manner of election of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Bar Council.
iii. Deciding the validity of elections.
iv. The filling of casual vacancies in the Bar Council.
v. The powers and duties of the Chairman and the Vice Chairman.
vi. Constitution of funds.
vii. Organisation of legal aid to the poor, constitution of committees and sub committees
for the purpose.
viii. Summoning the meeting of the Bar Council, Conduct of Business, deciding the number
of persons to constitute quorum.
ix. The qualifications and the conditions of service of the secretary, the accountant, and
other employees of the Bar Council.
x. The maintenance of books of accounts and other books by the Bar Council.
xi. The appointment of auditors and the audit of the accounts of the Bar Council.
xii. The management and investment of the funds.

Rules made by the State Bar Councils are effective only when it is approved by the Bar
Council of India.

MAINTENANCE OF ROLLS
As per Section 17 of the Act, every State Bar Council shall prepare and maintain a roll of
Advocates. It shall contain the names and addresses of the Advocates.
The roll shall consist of two parts. The first part shall include the details of senior Advocates
and the second part shall include the details of other Advocates. No person shall be enrolled
as an Advocate in more than one state roll.
But a person can file an application before the Bar Council of India to transfer his name from
roll of one state to another nevertheless he will retain the same seniority. The State Bar
Council may issue a certificate of enrolment to Advocates whose name is entered in the roll.

In the case of Bar Council of Delhi vs Surjeet Singh, the Supreme Court observed that the
power of the State Bar Council is merely to prepare and revise from time to time the electoral
roll subject to the Rules made by the Bar Council of India. The Rule making power of the
State Bar councils does not override the powers conferred to Bar Council of India.