The Bar Council of India (BCI), the regulatory body for legal education and advocates, on Friday announced that approximately 1.2 lakh advocates would appear for the All India Bar Exam to be held on January 24.

The examination is to be held at about 154 centres in 52 cities. The AIBE is mandatory for all advocates who have passed out after 2010 to begin legal practice. The exams are held to weed out non-serious advocates and ensure that they have a minimum standard of advocacy skills.

Exams at nine centres had been cancelled last time because of the use of unfair means by candidates. This time, the candidates who had appeared from those centres have been allowed to take the test from other centres. No fees have been charged.

The use of mobile phones and other electronic gadgets are not allowed during the exam. As an additional measure, signal jammers shall be used at approximately 50 centres to ensure that no one in the vicinity is able to use phones or gadgets, BCI secretary Srimanto Sen said in a statement on Friday.

Owing to the pandemic, he said, the period between March 24, 2020, and March 31, 2021, has been exempted from the two-year period from enrolment within which an advocate has to appear in the exam.