In all, there are 24 Bar Councils all over India, one in each state, and among the Union Territories (UTs), only Delhi has a Bar Council. In the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, there is no Bar Council. Even when it was a state before October 31, 2019, it had no Bar Council in place. Why? Well, we can call it as one of the side effects of Article 370, just like there were many others.
Incidentally, as defined by the Bar Council of India (BCI), a state bar council is a statutory body that regulates enrolment of law graduates as lawyers and the practice of law in a state. The BCI is a statutory body created by Parliament to regulate and represent the Indian Bar. It performs the regulatory function by prescribing standards of professional conduct, etiquettes and by exercising disciplinary jurisdiction over the Bar. It also sets standards for legal education and grant recognition to Universities whose degree in law will serve as qualification for enrolment as an advocate.
The issue of absence of this statutory body meant to regulate the Bar from J&K has now reached the apex court of the country. On Friday, the Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre, the BCI and others on a PIL seeking a bar council in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta took note of the submissions made by advocate Javid Shaikh who has filed the PIL on behalf of the Kashmir Advocates Association. The Bench issued notices to the Centre, the BCI and the Registrar General of the High Court of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Arguing in the apex court, Javid Shaikh, assisted by advocate Adil Muneer Andrabi, stressed on the need for a bar council in Jammu and Kashmir. Going a step further, he also sought an interim relief underlining the necessity of government-issued welfare stamps used on pleadings. In all states, these are published at the request of bar council of the respective state.
In the absence of a bar council in J&K, the high court was performing the relevant functions pertaining to the publication of welfare stamps.
Refusing to pass an interim order, the Bench observed: “Whatever system is there so far will continue. Is the high court a party? Let the notice go, and let them come.” The next hearing in the case will be held after four weeks.
Historically, two parallel bodies have represented lawyers in J&K, one in the Jammu region and one in Kashmir. Bar Association of Jammu (BAJ) has functioned as the apex body to represent lawyers working in all the 10 districts of the Jammu region. A similar body has existed in the Kashmir region but these two bodies have generally not worked in tandem. The main reason for this has been that for the past three decades, the body representing the lawyers in Kashmir has mostly been dominated by secessionist, separatist ideologies. A large number of lawyers of Kashmir have also been affiliated to separatist leaders like late SAS Geelani.
Incidentally, the Bar Council of India (BCI) was established by the Parliament under the Advocates Act, 1961. It forms about a dozen defined statutory functions under Section 7 which cover the Bar Council’s regulatory and representative mandate for the legal profession and legal education in India:
In 2010, the BCI started an All India Bar Examination wherein it was decided by the Council that the examination shall be mandatory for all law students graduating from that academic year onwards. It also decided that the candidates may apply to appear in the examination only after enrolling as advocates under Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961.
