An open letter to the BCI Chairman: What exactly are we paying ₹3,500 for?

Respected Sir,

I am writing this open letter as an aggrieved candidate who has been made to repeatedly pursue the correction of a simple clerical error in an official document issued after the All India Bar Examination (AIBE).

My correct parentage name was accurately mentioned in my AIBE application form and was also correctly reflected on my admit card. However, when the result was declared, a portion of my parentage name was incorrectly recorded. The error was immediately brought to the notice of the AIBE Help Desk through email and telephone. I was informed that the correction could not be made online, but I was assured that the error would be rectified before the certificate was sent to the High Court authorities. I relied upon that assurance. Unfortunately, despite the assurance, the certificate was sent with the same error.

When the certificate reached the High Court, the discrepancy between the certificate and my other official documents was noticed, and the certificate could not be processed further. A mistake that I did not make has now become a problem that I am being forced to resolve. I again approached the AIBE Help Desk. I sent emails, made telephone calls, explained the issue and furnished the relevant documents showing that the correct parentage details had already been provided in my original application form and were also correctly reflected on my admit card.

There is no dispute regarding my identity, qualification or eligibility. I am not asking for a change in my result or marks, nor am I seeking to introduce any new information into the examination record. I am simply asking for a clerical error in my official certificate to be corrected, particularly when the correct information was already available with the AIBE authorities from the very beginning.

Yet, after all this, I was directed to register a grievance through the AIBE grievance portal. I complied with that direction and submitted my grievance. But I am compelled to ask: what exactly are candidates paying ₹3,500 for? The AIBE examination fee is ₹3,500, which is not an insignificant amount for every law graduate appearing in the examination. Candidates pay this fee with the expectation that they are not merely paying for the opportunity to sit in an examination. They are also entitled to expect a basic level of administrative support and an effective mechanism for resolving genuine problems arising from the examination process.

What is the purpose of an AIBE Help Desk if a candidate who has identified a genuine error in an official certificate is simply redirected from email to telephone, from telephone to a grievance portal and from one process to another? A help desk should help. A grievance portal should resolve grievances. They should not become mechanisms through which an already aggrieved candidate is made to repeat the same complaint through different channels.

There is a clear difference between a candidate who seeks to change information originally furnished in an examination application and a candidate who seeks to correct an error made while preparing the result or certificate. I am not seeking to change my personal details after the examination. I am asking the AIBE authorities to correctly reproduce the details that were already provided by me. The distinction should be obvious.

At what stage does the responsibility of the examination authority begin? And at what stage is the candidate expected to stop bearing the consequences of an error that the candidate did not make?

No large examination system is entirely immune from clerical or administrative mistakes. But an error is one thing; failing to correct an error after it has been brought to the notice of the authority is another. The issue is, therefore, not merely about one incorrect word in a certificate. It is about the manner in which candidates are treated when they face a problem in the examination process. Candidates are expected to follow every instruction, fill out forms correctly, pay the prescribed fee, appear for the examination and comply with every requirement imposed upon them. But when the examination authority makes a clerical error, why is the candidate required to repeatedly email, telephone, submit grievances and pursue multiple channels to have that error corrected?

I am writing this open letter because I have now reached a complete deadlock. I was earlier assured that the mistake would be corrected before the certificate was forwarded, yet the certificate was still sent with the error. Now, with the certificate having reached the High Court and the discrepancy having been noticed, I am left wondering what options are actually available to me to get this mistake undone. Who am I supposed to contact now? Which authority is responsible for correcting the error? How many more emails must I send, how many more grievances must I register and how many more times must I explain the same issue before someone takes responsibility for correcting a mistake that I did not make? This is precisely why I am compelled to write publicly to the Chairman, Bar Council of India. I am not writing because I have not tried the available channels; I am writing because I have tried them and have now reached a point where I do not know what other option is left for me.

I, therefore, respectfully appeal to the Chairman, Bar Council of India, to intervene in this matter and ensure that the AIBE Help Desk takes immediate steps to correct the error and issue a corrected certificate. I also request that the functioning of the AIBE Help Desk and the grievance redressal mechanism be examined. Candidates should not be left to navigate a maze of emails, phone calls and online grievances for the correction of errors that can be verified from the examination authority’s own records. A proper, transparent and time-bound mechanism must exist for correcting genuine clerical errors in AIBE results and certificates.

I paid ₹3,500 to appear in the All India Bar Examination. I should not now be required to spend my time and energy repeatedly pursuing the correction of an error that I did not make. I hope the Chairman, Bar Council of India, will take cognisance of this grievance and ensure that the matter is resolved without any further delay.

Ummar Jamal is a lawyer presently working as Research Assistant at Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court.