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A petition relating to declaration of results of AIBE-XIV is pending before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, whereby a candidate is contesting withholding of his result by the Bar Council of India, "without any valid grounds".
Bar Council of India (BCI) has opposed a plea moved before the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging its decision to withhold the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) 2019 results of candidates from certain exam centres.
BCI has claimed in its counter, that there were sufficient grounds to withhold the results, given the malpractice that occurred at the centres.
Advocate Bilaal Ahmed Syed has filed the plea in March this year, aggrieved by the Council's decision to withhold the result of the only Examination Center in the state, on account of mass cheating/ mis-match in Code. Syed had written the AIBE in September 2019 from an exam centre at Visakhapatnam, which was one of the nine exam centres for which results were withheld.
The decision to withhold the results of a total 9 Centers was taken in a meeting of the Monitoring Committee of AIBE, held on September 21, 2020, which the Petitioner has alleged "does not carry any stamp or signature of the High Power Monitoring Committee and thus is it not understood how there can be a one man committee sitting alone decide and with whom there were discussions."
The Petitioner's case is that the AIBE examination itself is an open book exam and thus there is no question of malpractice. Further, results of an entire Center cannot be withheld for the reason that code is mismatch.
Significantly, after filing of the present petition, the Council released two different lists, (i) List A containing the list of candidates who had failed earlier but now stood passed; and (ii) List B containing the names of disqualified candidates.
The Petitioner has submitted that his name does not find mention in either List A or List B, and therefore, the reason for withholding his result is "not known".
The Bar Council of India has a counter affidavit in the matter, stating that the candidates who appeared in the given 9 centers but whose results have been withheld will be allowed to appear in the upcoming AIBE exam without payment of examination fee.
This step was taken on account of errors and mismatch in exam codes, as a result of which the exams from these centres stood vitiated. Therefore, the candidates were required to retake the exam without paying the examination fee for a second time.
The petitioner claimed that the withholding of results of an entire exam centre done by the BCI is without any application of mind or without considering the future of the advocates who enrolled and are awaiting the results.
In may this year BCI in its counter informed the court, it conducts examination through an agency, but not on its own. The BCI avers, the entire exam procedure is monitored by a High-Powered Committee headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge.
There were cerian issued which was flagged by the conducting agency regarding nine specified exam centres, and based on the same, the Monitoring Committee had decided to withhold the results of candidates from the said centres.
The BCI stated, that it was based on these meetings and decisions that the final notification of withholding results was published in February.
The BCI said that the allegation made by the petitioner that the results were being withheld "without any valid grounds" is thus incorrect. The candidates were given liberty to appear in the next exam without paying any examination fee, the BCI further clarifies. As such, the petition deserves to be dismissed, the Council had said.
This plea is expected to be taken up for hearing by the High Court later this month.
The main petition was filed in the month of March 2020 however there is delay in the matter due to the lockdown.
The petitioner is represented by Advocate M Solomon Raju.
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