# Criminal action can be taken against advocates practising without AIBE: Karnataka HC 2026-10-19T13:47:45+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Karnataka High Court has ruled that advocates who continue to practise without clearing the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) within the mandatory two-year period can face criminal liability under the Indian Penal Code and Section 45 of the Advocates Act, 1961. Justice H.P. Sandesh held that the disciplinary mechanism of the Bar Council does not extinguish the jurisdiction of criminal courts to examine conduct that satisfies the ingredients of a criminal offence. The court dismissed a petition by advocate M Prasanna Kumar, who sought to quash a cheating case registered on a private complaint. The complaint alleged that Kumar, provisionally enrolled in 2011, practised for nearly a decade without clearing the AIBE. The court noted that Kumar admitted he did not appear for the exam for almost a decade and only cleared it in 2021. The Karnataka State Bar Council opposed the plea, arguing that subsequent passing of the exam would not retrospectively validate his practice. The High Court directed the KSBC to devise a mechanism to track advocates who fail to clear the AIBE within two years, ensuring that non-compliance is automatically flagged. The KSBC has 45 days to report back to the court. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both livelaw.in and indianexpress.com reported the ruling factually, focusing on the court's direction to the KSBC to create a tracking mechanism and the 45-day deadline for compliance. The coverage is uniform straight reporting, with no discernible editorial slant from either outlet. The key legal point, that criminal jurisdiction is not barred by the Bar Council's disciplinary powers, is stated identically. The court's criticism of the advocate's decade-long practice without the exam is also reported verbatim. The implications for other provisionally enrolled advocates across the state are left open by the court's directive to the KSBC. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight report of court order and legal reasoning - indianexpress.com (neutral report) Factual report with details of accused's defence and KSBC opposition This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: All-India Bar Examination, Justice H P Sandesh, Karnataka High Court, Karnataka State Bar Council Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/criminal-action-can-be-taken-against-advocates-practising-without-aibe-karnataka-hc/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/criminal-action-can-be-taken-against-advocates-practising-without-aibe-karnataka-hc/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/