LLM Holder Moves Gujarat High Court Challenging 'Fail' Result In AIBE

The Gujarat High Court on 17^th June (Tuesday) issued notice to Bar Council of India (BCI) after a petitioner holding a Master of Law with First Class was declared 'Fail' in the All-India Bar Examination (AIBE) which is mandatory for law graduates to become practicing advocates.

The petition was file challenging the decision of the BCI declaring her as 'failed' stating although 7 out 100 questions in the AIBE exam were withdrawn, no grace marks were granted to her despite attending all 100 questions. It was alleged that the decision arbitrary and lacks transparency.

Justice Niral R Mehta ordered, “Notice returnable on 8^th July 2025.”

Background

The Petitioner has completed her LL.M in Criminal Law with First Class in April 2024 and has previously cleared SCC, HSC, graduation and LL.B. She appeared for AIBE that was held on 22.12.2024.

AIBE is an open book exam with 100 multiple choice questions, the Bar Council of India issued a clarification in their website, wherein it was pointed out that out of 100 questions, the Bar Council of India is withdrawing 7 questions and the result will be based on 93 questions, instead of 100 questions and the passing marks, thus, will be calculated as 45% of 93 marks, which rounds up to 42 marks as far as General/OBC category is concerned.

The petitioner was declared failed and dissatisfied with the result she submitted an online application for rechecking of the exam paper and paid the requisite fee. The online rechecking mechanism did not allow the petitioner to add any comment to explain the grievance and she was constrained to proceed with the rechecking application in the prescribed format. The petitioner then stated that she received a message from AIBE Department that the answer sheet was duly rechecked and there was no change in the result.

It was stated that the respondent authorities did not provide any reasoning or justification explaining the result despite the rechecking process.

Case Title: Urvi Chandrashekhar Acharya vs Bar Council of India & Anr.

Case Number: SCA 7568 OF 2025

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