UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — SC orders oversight of Bar Council’s policy decisions
Q1. Under the Advocates Act, 1961, the elected component of the Bar Council of India is constituted in which one of the following ways?
- A. Two members nominated by each State Bar Council from among advocates of ten years' standing
- B. One advocate elected directly by all the advocates borne on the roll of each State Bar Council
- C. One member elected by each State Bar Council from amongst its own members
- D. One member elected by each High Court Bar Association from amongst its office-bearers
Q2. Who presides over the Bar Council of India as its Chairman under the scheme of the Advocates Act, 1961?
- A. The Attorney-General of India, who presides over it ex officio under the Advocates Act, 1961
- B. An advocate nominated by the Chief Justice of India from among the Senior Advocates of the Supreme Court
- C. The senior-most among the members elected to the Council by the various State Bar Councils
- D. A member of the Council chosen as its Chairman by the Council itself in the prescribed manner
Q3. The proviso to Section 4(3) of the Advocates Act, 1961 — the clause invoked to justify the continuance of the incumbent office-bearers of the Bar Council of India — lays down that:
- A. A member shall demit office on the expiry of two years even if his successor has not been elected
- B. A member shall continue to hold office as a member of the Council until his successor is elected
- C. The Chairman and the Vice-Chairman shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of election
- D. A member who ceases to be a member of his State Bar Council shall nevertheless serve out his full term
Q4. Under Section 4(3) of the Advocates Act, 1961, what is the outer limit of the term of office of a member of the Bar Council of India who holds his seat in the State Bar Council ex officio?
- A. Two years from the date of his election, or till he ceases to be a member of the State Bar Council, whichever is earlier
- B. Five years from the date of publication of the result of the State Bar Council elections, in every case
- C. Six years from the date of his election, or till he attains the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier
- D. Co-terminous with the term of the Chairman of the Bar Council of India who is then holding office
Q5. With reference to the Supreme Court's order of September 2026 on the headship of the Bar Council of India, consider the following statements:
1. The Court held that the incumbent Chairperson continues only as a 'pro tem' Chairman till a fresh election of the Bar Council of India.
2. The Court recorded that the incumbent holds the chair by virtue of a democratic election held after the expiry of the previous Council's term.
3. The Bench that passed the order was headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
4. The Court held that the notification extending the Chairperson's tenure permanently dispenses with the need to hold State Bar Council elections.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Court held that the incumbent Chairperson continues only as a 'pro tem' Chairman till a fresh election of the Bar Council of India.
- The Court recorded that the incumbent holds the chair by virtue of a democratic election held after the expiry of the previous Council's term.
- The Bench that passed the order was headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
- The Court held that the notification extending the Chairperson's tenure permanently dispenses with the need to hold State Bar Council elections.
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 1, 3 and 4
- D. 1 only
Q6. In the Supreme Court's September 2026 order, the role of the pro tem Chairman of the Bar Council of India was held to be confined principally to which one of the following?
- A. Laying down the standards of professional conduct and etiquette to be observed by advocates
- B. Conducting the All India Bar Examination and administering the funds collected through it
- C. Overseeing the day-to-day functioning of the Council pending a fresh election to it
- D. Recognising universities whose degrees in law qualify a person for enrolment as an advocate
Q7. With reference to the Supreme Court's 2026 directive on decision-making in the Bar Council of India, consider the following statements:
1. The Attorney-General for India and the Solicitor-General of India are ex officio members of the Bar Council of India under the Advocates Act, 1961.
2. The Court directed that these two Law Officers be actively associated with every major policy decision of the Council until a fresh Council is constituted.
3. The Court directed the Chief Justice of India to nominate a retired Supreme Court judge to head the Bar Council of India in the interim.
4. The requirement of association of the two Law Officers was confined to decisions relating to the All India Bar Examination.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Attorney-General for India and the Solicitor-General of India are ex officio members of the Bar Council of India under the Advocates Act, 1961.
- The Court directed that these two Law Officers be actively associated with every major policy decision of the Council until a fresh Council is constituted.
- The Court directed the Chief Justice of India to nominate a retired Supreme Court judge to head the Bar Council of India in the interim.
- The requirement of association of the two Law Officers was confined to decisions relating to the All India Bar Examination.
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 1 and 2
- C. 2 and 4
- D. 1, 3 and 4
Q8. The two Law Officers of the Union directed by the Supreme Court in September 2026 to participate in every policy decision of the Bar Council of India were, respectively, the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General then in office, namely:
- A. Tushar Mehta and R. Venkataramani, respectively
- B. K. K. Venugopal and Mukul Rohatgi, respectively
- C. Mukul Rohatgi and Ranjit Kumar, respectively
- D. R. Venkataramani and Tushar Mehta, respectively
Q9. The office of the Solicitor-General of India derives its existence and conditions of service from which one of the following?
- A. Article 76 of the Constitution, which places the office on the same footing as that of the Attorney-General
- B. Section 4 of the Advocates Act, 1961, the provision that creates the office and defines its tenure
- C. The Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987, there being no provision of the Constitution creating the office
- D. Article 88 of the Constitution, which deals with the rights of the Law Officers in relation to Parliament
Q10. The expression 'right of audience' used in Article 76 in relation to the Attorney-General for India denotes his entitlement:
- A. To attend the sittings of both Houses of Parliament and of their committees and to speak therein
- B. To appear and be heard in any court within the territory of India
- C. To be heard by the President before the promulgation of an Ordinance under Article 123
- D. To be consulted by the Union Council of Ministers before any Bill is introduced in Parliament
Q11. In the 2026 proceedings before the Supreme Court, the objection to office-bearers of the Bar Council of India being made 'permanent managing trustees' of the BCI-PEARL FIRST Trust rested on the understanding that such trustees:
- A. Hold trusteeship for a fixed but renewable term of ten years running from the registration of the trust
- B. Hold trusteeship only so long as they hold elective office in the Council, but may be re-appointed indefinitely
- C. Hold trusteeship jointly with their successors in office in the Council, with a permanent right of nomination
- D. Hold trusteeship for life irrespective of whether they continue to be members of the Bar Council of India
Q12. The National Medical Commission — the statutory regulator of the medical profession that replaced the Medical Council of India, and a body comparable to the Bar Council of India in the legal profession — consists of how many members in all?