The Bar Council of India (BCI) has kept in abeyance its decision to make it mandatory for advocates to renew their licence once in five years just hours after it was made public by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry on Tuesday.
BCTP chairman D. Selvam said on Tuesday morning that the BCI secretary J.K. Sharma had written to all state bar councils asking them to ensure that advocates renewed their licenses to practice within the next six months.
Making the renewal of licence mandatory, the BCI had in its communication dated June 13, 2012, stated that if an advocate failed to fulfill this condition he will not be entitled to practice and his name will be
deleted from the roll of the concerned state bar councils.
This renewal system was to ensure non-practicing lawyers and persons engaged in other jobs may not get the benefits of any welfare schemes for the lawyers, the communication said.
However, in the evening another communication was sent to all the state bar councils stating that the decision regarding renewal of licence had been kept in abeyance till further orders because certain state bar councils have raised objections about renewal of licence of advocates.