The Allahabad High Court has directed the Chairman and Secretary of the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh to issue permanent enrolment numbers to advocates who qualify the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) within four weeks of receiving their result cards, observing that delay in issuing enrolment numbers should not result in advocates losing valuable time.
The direction was issued by Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal while deciding an issue concerning the right of law graduates from the 2009-10 academic session onwards to practise after provisional enrolment. The Court held that such advocates are entitled to practise for two years on the basis of provisional enrolment, but if they fail to clear the AIBE within that period, they cannot practise in any court, tribunal or other authority until they qualify the examination.
The Court noted that the advocate who had appeared in the matter, Jaihind Gaund, had informed the Court that he had cleared the AIBE on July 18, 2026, but that the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh takes time to issue a permanent enrolment number after receiving the result. He therefore sought a direction for enrolment numbers to be issued within one week.
While the Court did not grant the requested one-week timeline, it directed the Bar Council to issue the enrolment number within four weeks of receiving the result card.
The Court also directed the Advocate Roll Section of the Allahabad High Court to strike off or suspend, after notice, the names of advocates holding provisional enrolment who fail to qualify the AIBE within two years. Such advocates would not be entitled to file vakalatnama before the High Court.
The judgment further clarified that an advocate whose Certificate of Practice has not been verified or renewed after five years does not automatically lose the right to practise. The disability under Rule 5 of the Bar Council of India Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015 arises only after the advocate’s name is published in the list of non-practising advocates under Rule 20.4.
The Court also directed the Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, to ensure completion of police verification of law graduates intending to enrol as advocates within two weeks of receiving the verification form from the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh.
