The National Law Universities Students’ Association (NLUSA) has submitted a formal representation to the Bar Council of India (BCI) seeking reconsideration of the eligibility criteria prescribed for the forthcoming All India Bar Examination (AIBE 2025).
The representation, bearing Ref. No. NLUSA/001/2025-26 and dated October 26, 2025, underscores that the present eligibility conditions, restricting registration to candidates in their final semester (X semester) or those already possessing provisional or final transcripts, have resulted in differential treatment among students of the same graduating batch owing to variations in the academic calendars followed by universities across the country.
According to the official notification, the last date for registration is October 31, 2025, while the examination is scheduled for November 30, 2025. The Association has submitted that, although the intent behind the criteria is duly acknowledged, its practical application has led to inequitable consequences.
In several universities, IX-semester examinations are scheduled for November—December 2025, rendering such students ineligible at the time of registration despite their status as final-year students. Similarly, in institutions following the trimester system, students in the XIV trimester (five-year programme) or VIII trimester (three-year programme) stand excluded even though they have entered the final phase of their course. The representation further notes that in some universities, IX-semester examinations have already concluded, yet transcripts and mark sheets will not be issued before the registration deadline, thereby disqualifying otherwise eligible candidates.
Conversely, in universities that concluded their IX semester on or before October 2025, students have already entered their X semester and are consequently eligible to register. The NLUSA has therefore asserted that eligibility for a statutory qualifying examination ought not to depend upon the fortuity of institutional scheduling, which offends the principles of equity, fairness, and natural justice.
The Association has accordingly urged the BCI to:
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Expand the eligibility criteria to include all students who have entered their final academic year, i.e., IX semester, XIV trimester, or VIII trimester, as the case may be;
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Extend the registration deadline and/or relax transcript submission requirements for candidates whose results are pending owing to their university’s academic calendar; and
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Issue a clarificatory notification ensuring parity and uniform opportunity for all final-year law students across the country.
The representation has been collectively endorsed by the student representative bodies of several National Law Universities, including the Student Bar Association (SBA) of DNLU Jabalpur; Student Bar Councils (SBCs) of NALSAR Hyderabad, DSNLU Visakhapatnam, MNLU Mumbai, MNLU Nagpur, NLUJAA Guwahati, and NLU Delhi; the Student Juris Association (SJA) of NUJS Kolkata; the SBA of NLIU Bhopal; and the Student Councils of NLU Odisha and NUALS Kochi; together with the SBA of NLSIU Bengaluru. Final-year students from GNLU Gandhinagar and other NLUs have also expressed their concurrence with the representation, notwithstanding the absence of formally constituted student bodies at their institutions.
The NLUSA has expressed confidence that the Bar Council of India, as the apex statutory body regulating legal education and the legal profession, will take expeditious cognizance of the matter and adopt appropriate measures to secure fairness, parity, and inclusivity for all candidates of the graduating Batch of 2026, particularly in light of the approaching registration deadline.