Polity · 17 Aug 2026

Bar Council of India Advocates Act

Consider the following statements:

  1. Under the Advocates Act, 1961, the power to admit or refuse to admit a person as an advocate rests exclusively with the State Bar Councils.
  2. The Bar Council of India's power of "general supervision and control" over State Bar Councils is derived from Section 7(1)(g) of the Advocates Act, 1961.
  3. In Indian Council of Legal Aid & Advice v. Bar Council of India (1995), the Supreme Court upheld a Bar Council of India rule imposing an age-based disqualification for enrolment as an advocate.
AOnly one
BOnly two
CAll three
DNone of the above
This question is based on: The BCI Was Built to Set Standards. This Week It Tried to Set Discipline.
Take this in full test mode → Instructions for 17 Aug 2026
About this question

Why in news

The Supreme Court, hearing a plea after the BCI directed State Bar Councils to halt enrolment of NALSAR's entire 2026 batch over a student protest against CJI Surya Kant, barred coercive action against the students and ordered the BCI to file an affidavit within two weeks.

Why for UPSC

A recurring UPSC pattern is testing whether a regulatory body's stated supervisory mandate can be conflated with a different, more specific power (here, admission) that the statute reserves elsewhere - precisely the distinction this controversy turned on.

Prelims summary

The Advocates Act, 1961 separates the BCI's general supervisory power (Section 7(1)(g)) from the State Bar Councils' exclusive power to admit advocates (Section 6(1)(a)). The Supreme Court has previously struck down BCI attempts to add disqualifications beyond those specified in Section 24A, as in the 1995 age-bar case.

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