Jahanvi Agarwal
On July 9, the Supreme Court turned down a request to lower the cut-off scores for the All India Bar Examination (AIBE). Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, leading the bench, argued that lowering the cut-off would undermine the standards of lawyers practicing in the country. The CJI remarked that they have set a cut-off of 45 for the general category and 40 for SC/ST, questioning what kind of lawyer the person will be if they cannot score this much. The petitioner had asked to lower the cut-off to 40 and 35. He also advised the petitioner, “Padho bhai!”
The bench, which included Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, concurred that lowering the cut-off would negatively impact the standards of lawyers admitted to the Bar Council.
In 2023, over half of the candidates who took the AIBE 18 failed to pass. The Bar Council of India, responsible for conducting the exam, reported that out of 1,48,781 registered candidates, 1,44,014 appeared for the test.
Case Name: Ranjeet Singh v. Bar Council Of India
Dairy Number: 20490/2024
Bench: CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra