AIBE 21 in June 2026: BCI Informs Delhi High Court

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on November 18 informed the Delhi High Court that the next All India Bar Examination (AIBE) will be held in June 2026. The BCI also told the Court that the qualifying exam for Indian students who have completed their law degree from a foreign university will take place between December 15 and 20, 2025.

Following these submissions, Justice Sachin Datta closed a petition filed by a law graduate from a foreign university who sought permission to practice law in India. On the previous date of hearing, the Court had asked the BCI to clarify whether the qualifying exam could be conducted before AIBE to avoid delays for such candidates.

After taking instructions, BCI informed the Court that the qualifying exam will be held between December 15-20 of this year and that the next bi-annual AIBE will be held in June 2026. The Court also recorded that candidates who obtain provisional registration with their respective State Bar Councils will have a period of 2 years to clear AIBE, and during this period, they will not be precluded from commencing their legal practice.

The petitioner, a law graduate from Brunel University of London, who recently completed a bridge course from the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER), Goa had challenged the BCI's requirement that foreign law degree holders complete both a bridge course and a qualifying exam before being allowed to appear for AIBE in order to practice law in India.

During an earlier hearing, the Court expressed concern about the delay and told the counsel for BCI:

“He is a young advocate sitting idle at home, he concluded his bridge course several months ago. You have created this problem; you only find a solution. You should have conducted the qualifying exam before then, this will waste a year. Why did you not schedule the qualifying exam before? His chance to appear in AIBE will be after one year now."

The petitioner’s counsel had requested that he be allowed to appear for AIBE XX, scheduled for November 30, 2025, without taking the qualifying exam first. The plea was opposed by BCI, which maintained that “AIBE is for candidates enrolled as an advocate in India."

The Court questioned the timing of the exams and asked the BCI why the qualifying exam had not been held earlier, so that foreign law graduates could take the AIBE without losing an academic year. “You should have timed it accordingly. Why don’t you schedule it in a way that it takes minimal amount of time?” the Court asked the BCI.

In the petition, it was argued that the BCI introduced the bridge course to remove the academic differences between foreign and Indian law degrees. Despite completing this bridge course, students still have to take another qualifying exam, which, according to the petitioner, makes the purpose of the bridge course meaningless.

The petition stated that, “This course was introduced by the BCI itself to cure the difference in duration and structure between Indian and foreign law degrees. Yet, even after compelling students to spend two additional years in this BCI mandated programme, the BCI insists that they must sit for a further Qualifying Examination before being permitted to attempt the AIBE. This insistence destroys the very logic of the Bridge Course,”.

The petition raised the legal question of whether BCI can mandate both a bridge course and a qualifying examination and whether such duplication defeats the purpose of the bridge course. The petitioner urged the Court to declare AIBE as the common qualifying examination for both Indian nationals having foreign law degrees who have completed their bridge course, as well as those with LL.B. degrees from Indian universities.