MPSC 2024 Prelims Paper-I · Question 93 of 100

Correct — option (1), New Delhi. The Bar Council of India's International Lawyers' Conference 2023 was inaugurated by the Prime Minister at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 23 September 2023 and ran over two days, 23 and 24 September, closing with a valedictory session at which the Union Home Minister was chief guest. The Chief Justice of India and the Union Minister of Law and Justice were present at the inauguration. The conference was organised by the Bar Council of India in collaboration with the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, on the theme 'Emerging Challenges in Justice Delivery System', and its sessions covered cross-border litigation, legal technology, environmental law and arbitration. It was the first conference of its kind held in India, which is the reason it was reported as an event rather than as a professional meeting, and the reason a state commission picked it up. The venue is not an accident and can be reasoned about: the Bar Council of India, the statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961 that regulates the legal profession and legal education across the country, has its seat in New Delhi, as does the Supreme Court, and Vigyan Bhawan is the government's standard venue for a national conference at which the Prime Minister speaks.

• (2)Mumbai — Mumbai is the seat of the Bombay High Court, one of the three chartered High Courts established in 1862 and among the oldest in India, and it is the country's leading centre for commercial and corporate litigation and arbitration. None of that made it the venue. The conference was a Bar Council of India event with the Prime Minister inaugurating it, and it was held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. For a Maharashtra candidate this is the most tempting wrong answer in the set, which is very likely why it is printed.
• (3)Kolkata — Kolkata houses the Calcutta High Court, established in 1862 and the oldest High Court in India, so the city has an obvious claim on any question about legal history. But the 2023 International Lawyers' Conference was not held there. A useful habit for questions about national conferences is to ask which body convened the event and where that body sits: this one was convened by the Bar Council of India, whose seat is New Delhi.
• (4)Bengaluru — Bengaluru is the seat of the Karnataka High Court and hosts many international professional gatherings, but it was not the venue for this conference. The option rounds out a set of four plausible metropolitan choices, none of which can be eliminated by general reasoning alone — which is what makes venue questions pure recall. The only defence is to note the city along with the event when the news is read, and to remember that a national conference inaugurated by the Prime Minister is usually held at Vigyan Bhawan in the capital.

The Bar Council of India is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961. It regulates the legal profession and legal education in India, prescribes standards of professional conduct and etiquette, recognises the law degrees that entitle a person to be enrolled as an advocate, and exercises disciplinary jurisdiction over advocates through its disciplinary committee, with State Bar Councils performing corresponding functions in each state. Its seat is New Delhi. The International Lawyers' Conference 2023, held on 23 and 24 September 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, was the first such conference the Council had organised, in collaboration with the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, on the theme 'Emerging Challenges in Justice Delivery System'. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in the presence of the Chief Justice of India and the Union Law Minister, and the Union Home Minister addressed the valedictory session. The substantive agenda — cross-border litigation, legal technology, arbitration and environmental law — reflects the Indian legal establishment's interest in positioning the country as a venue for international dispute resolution.

Conference and summit questions are the simplest kind of current-affairs recall and the hardest to fake, since there is no principle from which the venue can be deduced. MPSC includes one or two of them in most papers, and they are usually about an event in the year preceding the examination with a head of government or a head of state present. The efficient way to prepare is to maintain a running list of the year's major conferences with four fields — the convening body, the city, the month and the theme — because those four cover every form the question takes. It is also worth learning the standing venues, since they recur: Vigyan Bhawan and Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi for national and international conferences, and Rashtrapati Bhavan for the conferment of awards. Where a Maharashtra city is offered as an option, as Mumbai is here, treat it as a decoy unless the event was specifically a state one, since the commission knows its candidates will lean towards the familiar.

• The Bar Council of India's International Lawyers' Conference 2023 was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on 23 and 24 September 2023 and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister.
• Its theme was 'Emerging Challenges in Justice Delivery System' and it was the first conference of its kind organised in India.
• It was organised in collaboration with the Law Society of England and Wales, the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association.
• The Chief Justice of India and the Union Minister of Law and Justice attended the inauguration; the Union Home Minister was chief guest at the valedictory session on 24 September.
• The Bar Council of India is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961; it regulates the legal profession and legal education and has its seat in New Delhi.
• The Calcutta, Bombay and Madras High Courts were all established in 1862, the Calcutta High Court being the oldest in India.

• Choosing a familiar state capital over the national capital on a question about a nationally convened event
• Assuming that a conference of lawyers must be held at the seat of the oldest High Court
• Confusing the Bar Council of India with the Bar Association of India or with a State Bar Council
• Ignoring the convening body, which is usually the strongest clue to the venue

Venue-and-event questions appear in almost every MPSC current-affairs section, usually with four metropolitan options and no internal clue. They are sometimes paired with the theme of the event or with the dignitary who inaugurated it. The best preparation is a dated list of the year's conferences, and the working assumption that a nationally convened event with the Prime Minister present was held in New Delhi unless the news said otherwise.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Bar Council of India is constituted under which statute ?

  • (a)The Advocates Act, 1961
  • (b)The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987
  • (c)The Indian Bar Councils Act, 1926
  • (d)The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971

  Answer(a) The Advocates Act, 1961 — it constitutes the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Councils, and gives them the power to regulate the legal profession, prescribe professional conduct and recognise law degrees for enrolment as an advocate.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which is the oldest High Court in India ?

  • (a)The Bombay High Court
  • (b)The Calcutta High Court
  • (c)The Madras High Court
  • (d)The Allahabad High Court

  Answer(b) The Calcutta High Court — established in 1862, a few weeks before the Bombay and Madras High Courts of the same year, which is why it is described as the oldest High Court in India.