Supreme Court Rules BCI Lacks Disciplinary Power Over Law Students

A Bench led by the Chief Justice of India ruled that the Bar Council of India has no statutory power to take disciplinary action against law students.

The BCI was created by the Advocates Act of 1961 to set practice and institutional education standards, but its functional role begins only after graduation and advocate registration.

Past BCI measures, such as pre-enrolment training requirements in 1998 and the 2010 All India Bar Examination, faced legal challenges from students and interventions from the Supreme Court.