Students await study material for All-India Bar exam

Students await study material for All-India Bar exam

Students who have appeared for their final year law exams are in trouble with the entry level examination in the profession mired in controversies. Even as students have challenged the Bar Council of India's (BCI) decision to hold an assessment test before practising law, they are worried about the non-availability of study material for the exams. Students who have completed their LLB this year will have to appear for the All India Bar Examination on December 5 before practising law in India. "The decision for having such an entry-level exam was taken late. After putting in three years for the law course, we are forced to appear for this exam where we have to prepare for all the 24 subjects that we have studied during the course. We don't know how it is going to help in practising," said Madhavi Mankerni, a student of Gopaldas Advani Law College, in Bandra. The matter is up for hearing on October 31. All the litigations have been compiled together in the Supreme Court. "They have uploaded some study material on their website after complaints, but not many students have access to the Internet. They were to send us three books as study materials, but haven't yet. The exam is just a month and a half away," said another student. The students have paid a demand draft of Rs1,350 for the study material. The BCI has outsourced the contract of conducting the exams to a private firm. BCI officials were unavailable for comment. Varsha Rokade, secretary of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, however, said that she has not received any complaints from students. "If students have complaints, the BCI has kept open several helpline numbers for their benefit," she said. However, students have complained that the numbers are not functional. Though some believe the problem is only with students in Maharashtra where some have received the study materials, many others feel that students across the country are having trouble.