The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry suspended and barred 1,025 advocates on October 8 from pursuing the profession as they had not passed All India Bar Examination conducted by the Bar Council of India. They have also been made ineligible for any of the benefits under the 'Welfare Fund Scheme' and also not entitled to vote in the Bar Association / Advocates Association election, in which he/she was admitted. In a circular addressed to president and secretaries of Bar/Advocates Association, C. Rajasekar, secretary of the council, stated "We ... hereby inform all the members of the Bar that if any advocate, who practices as an advocate even after this notice without passing the All India Bar Examination, the Bar Council will initiate removal proceedings against them without any further notice," he said. Although the Bar Council of India has been conducting All India Bar Examination from 2010, at its meeting held on August 26, 2012, it permitted the newly enrolled advocates to practice for a period of two years provisionally from the date of enrollment. If they fail to clear the All India Bar Examination within the prescribed period of two years, they are not eligible to practice as advocates in any court of law, tribunals etc. till they clear the said examination. Further, according to Rajasekar, the First Bench of High Court of Madras on July 3, 2015, directed the Bar Council to suspend those advocates, who have not cleared the All India Bar Examination within the stipulated period of two years.