(1.) THIS is an application by one Sailendra Nath Mukerji for admission as an Advocate of this Court.
(2.) THE applicant is a graduate of the University of Rangoon, where he obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the year 1938 and that of Bachelor of Law in 1941. Thereafter he completed a course of training in the office of an Advocate practising in the Rangoon High Court, and in April, 1942, he applied for admission as an Advocate of that Court. Very shortly after this however came the Japanese invasion of Burma, and the applicant was compelled to leave Rangoon for India where he arrived in May, 1942. He has remained in India since then, but it was not until 3 -12 -1951 that he filed an application in this Court for admission as an Advocate. Notice of the application was, in accordance with the Rules made under Section 9 of the Indian Bar Councils Act, 1926, served on the Bar Council which on 19 -5 -1952, objected to the admission of the applicant on the ground that the sixth proviso to Rule 1 of the Rules as interpreted in the case of Bankim Chandra Guha, Misc. Case No. 127 of 1951 All (A) was a bar to his admission. The objection was considered by a bench of this Court, which having some doubt as to the correctness of the view taken in Bankim Chandra Guha's case (A) has referred the objection to a larger bench.
(3.) THE Rules made by the Bar Council under Section 9 of the Indian Bar Councils Act, 1926, were amended in certain material respects in 1950 and 1951, the material notifications being published on 16 -12 -1950, and 6 -10 -1951. The Rules so amended were, therefore, in force when the applicant filed his application on 3 -12 -1951. He has, however, frankly and properly conceded that he is not qualified for admission as an Advocate under the amended Rules. His contention is that he was qualified for admission under the unamended Rules and that it is those Rules which were applicable to his application. In order to appreciate his contention it is necessary to refer to the first paragraph of Rule 1 of the unamended Rules, which reads thus: