 bill no 129 of 1'77 the advocates {amendment) bill, 1977 a billfurther to amend the advocates act, 1961 be it enacted by parliament in the twenty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the advocates (amendment) act, 1977 (2) it shall be deemed to have come into force on the 31st day of 5 october, 1977 short title and codlmencement 25 of 1961 amendment ot section 3 z in section 3 of the advocates act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), for sub-sections (3) and (3a) , the following subsections shall be substituted, namely:-10 "(3) there shall be a chairman and a vice-chairman of each state bar council elected by the council in such manner as may be prescribed (3a) every person holding office as chairman or as vice-chairman of any state bar council immediaely before the comm~ncement of the advocates (amendment) act, 1977, shall, oil such is com~encement, cease to hold ofbce as chairman or vice-chairman, as the case may be: provided that every such person shall continue to carry on the duties of his office until the chairman or the vice-chairman, as the case may be, of each state bar council, elected after the commencement of the advocates (amendment) act, 1977, assumes charge of the office" 3 (1) in secti:m 4 of the principal act,-amendment of section 4 (i) in sub-section (1), clause (bb) shall be omitted; 5 (ii) for sub-sections (2) and (2a) , the following sub-sections shall be substituted, namely:-"(2) there shall be a chairman and a vice-chairman of the bar council of india elected by the council in such manner as may be prescribed 10 (2a) a person h:>lding office as chairman or as vice-chairman of the bar council of india immediately before the commencement of the advoca~es (amendment) act, 1977, shall, on such commencement, cease to hold office as chairman or vice-chairman, as the case may be: is provided that su'ch person shall continue to carryon the duties of his office until the chairman or the vice-chairman, as the case may be, of the council, elected after the commencement of the advocates (amendment) act, 1977, assumes charge of the office" 20 amend-• ~l~ br sub-aeeuon (1) of section 8 of the principal act, for the ment of words "four years", the words "five years" shall be substituted section 8 (2) the amendment made by sub-section (1) to sub-section (1) of section 8 of the principal act shall apply also to an elected member of every state bar council who has no! completed the term of four years 2s at the commencement of this act 5 in sub-sectbn (2) of section 15 of the principal act;-amendment of section 15 (i) before clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-"(c) the manner of election of the chairman and the vice- 30 chairman of tpe bar councilj"; (ii) in clause (d), after the words "election to the bar council", the words "or to the office of the chairman or vice-chairman" shall be inserted 6 in section 34 of the principal act, after sub-section (la), the 35 following sub-section shall be inserted, name1y:-amendment of section 34 ii (2) without pr~judic~ to the provia,ions contained in' ~ub-section , (1), the high court at calcutta may make rules providing 'for the holding of the intermediate and the final examinations for articled clerks to be passed by the persons referred to in section !sag for the 40 pw-pose of being admitted as advocates on the state roll and any au matter conneeted therewith  7 in the principal act, after section 58af, the following section shall lnserbe inserted, namely: -tion of new sec_ tion 58ag s special provisions in relation to articl ed clerks 107 of 1976 10 "58ag notwithstanding anything contained in this' act, every person who, immediately before the 31st day of december, 1976, has eommenced ~is arti~l~~ihip ~nd passed the preliminary examination, for the putpose of enrolm,ent as ari attorney of the high courtat cal'c1!tta in accordance with the rules made under suq-section (2) of section 34, before the omission of that sub-section by the advocates (amendment) act, 1976,may be admitted as an advocate on the state roll if he-(i) paslles, on or before the 31st day of december, 1980,-(a) the final examination in a case where such person has, before the 31st day of december, 1976, passed the intermediate examination, is (b) the intermediate and the final examinations in any other case explanation-for the purpose of this dause, the high court at calcutta may prescribe such rules as may be necessary under sub-secti:>n (2) of section 34, specifying the nature of the exami-20 nations and any other matter relating thereto; (ii) makes an appl1aation for such enrolment in accordance with the provisions of this act; and (iii) fulfils the conditions specified in clauses (a), (b), (e) and (f) of sub-section (1) of section 24" 16 ot 1977 2s 8 (1) the advocates (amendment) ordinance, 1977, is hereby repeal and savin, repealed (2) notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the principal act as amended by the said ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the principal act, a8 amended 30 by this act  statement of objects and reasonsthe advocates (amendment) act, 1976 made several changes in the advocates act, 1961 according to the 8jilended act, the attorney-general of india and the advocates-general of the states became the ex otficlo chairman of the bar council of india and the state bar councils, respectively the s:>licitor-general of india became the ex officio vice-chairman of the bar council of india; and the senior-most advocate from among the elected members of the state bar council became the vice-chairman of the council in the case of the state bar council of delhi, an advocate, nominated by the central government, became the chairman the central government was also empowered to nominate one officer as a member of the bar council of india for a period of two years 2 this amendment has been criticised by several bar councils and the members of the public and the legal profession as a retrograde step and as not conducive to the efficient and proper running of the bar councils and one which sets at naught the very fundamentals of autonomy of an independent, profession the g:entral government has considered the matter de novo and it is proposed to amend the act to restore the democratic principle of elected chairman and vice-chairman for the bar council of india and the state bar councils the provision empowering the nomination of an ofticer fjd the bar council of india is also proposed to be omitted to avoid any disruption in the day-to-day working of the bar councils, i~ is provided that the existing chairman and vice-chairman shall carry on the duties of his respective office till the new chairman or vice-chairman, as the case may be, duly elected, assumes charge of the office 3 section 8 of the act provides for a term of four years for oftice of elected members of the state bar council as electiod to the state bar councils is a time-consuming process and involves considerable expenditure, the term of office of the members of the state bar councils, in relation to which the term has not already expired, is proposed to be increased to five years from the existing bur years 4 one of the major changes brought about by the advocates (amendment) act, 1976, was the abolition of the dual system in the high courts of b:>mbay and calcutta in calcutta, however, it was dot necessary to possess a degree in law for a person to enter into agreement of articleship in order to remove the hardship caused to the articled clerks who have entered inb agreement of articleship before the 31st december, 1976 and who have passed the preliminary examination but not passed th{' intermediate/final  examination, it is proposed to empower the calcutta high court to hold the intermediate/final examination up t'j 31st december, 1980 for the aforesaid artijcled clerks, and such of thosearticled clerks who pass the final examination will be eligible to be enrolled' as adv:lcates 5 since parliament was not in session aad urgent action was called for, it was considered necessary to issue the advocates (amendment) ordinance, 1977 and the same was promulgated on the 31st october, 1977 6 this bill seeks to replace the ordinance by an act of parliament new dam; shanti bhushan the 7th november, 1977 " - - state bar councils extrncts from thb advocates act, 1961 (25 or 1961) - - - 3 (1) there shall be a bar council-- - - - - (3) there shall be a chairman of each state bar council as follows:-(a) in the! ease of the state bar council of delhi, such advocate as may be nominated by the central governmtmt: snan be the chairman for a period of two years; (b) in the case of the state bar council of assam, nagaland, meghalaya, manipur and tripura, the advocate-general of each of the states of assam, manipur, meghalaya, nagaland and tripura, ex-officio shall, by rotation in that order, be the chairman for a period of two years; (c) in the case of the state bar council of punjab and haryana, the advocate-general of each of the states of punjab and haryana, ex-officio shall, by rotation in that order, be the chairman for a period of two years; and (d) in the case of any other state bar council, the advocate-general of the state, ex-officio, shall be the chairman bar council of india (3a) there shall be a vice-chairman of each state bar council who shall be the senior-most advocate amongst the members of that council - - - - - 4 (1) there shall be a bar council for the territories to which this act extends to be known as the bar council of india which shall consist of the following members, namely:-- - - - - (bb) a person appointed by virtue of office (whether or not under government) by the central government; - - - - -  (2) the attorney-general of india ex-officio and the solicitor-general of india ex-officio shall be the chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the bar council of india (2a) the term of office of the member of the bar council ,of india appointed under clause (bb) of sub-section (1) shall be two years from the date of his appointment or till he ceases to hold the office by virtue of which he was appointed, whichever is earlier - - - - - 8 (1) the term of office of an elected member of a state bar council (other than an elected member thereof referred to in section 54) shall be feur years from the date of publication of the result of his election - - - - - term of office of members of state bar council power to make rules 15 (1) - - -  - (2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for-'  - - - - (d) the manner in which and the authority by which doubts and disputes as to the validity of an election to the bar council shall be ftnally decided; - - - - -  memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 5 of the bill empowers a bar council to make rules with respect to the manner of election of the chairman and the vice-chairman and the manner in which and the authority by which doubts and disp~tes as to the validity of such elections shall be decided 2 clause 6 of the bill seeks to insert a new sub-section (2) in section 34 of the advocates act, 1961 empowering the high court of calcutta to make appropriate rules providing for the holding of the intermediate and the final examinations for articled clerks to be passed by the persons referred to in section 58ag for the purpose of being admitted as advocates on the state roll and any other matter connected therewith 3 the matters in respect of which such rules may be made are matters of detail and it is not practicable to provide for them in the bill the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character '"':l  a billfurther to amend i the advocates act, 1961 (shri shanti bhushan, minister of law, justice and company affairs) 