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Don’t lower standards any further: SC to Bar Council of India

By, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Jan 26, 2022 04:08 AM IST

There are antisocial elements graduating with a degree in law without attending a single class, lamented the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as it implored the Bar Council of India (BCI) to refrain from lowering the standards of entrance exams for law schools

There are antisocial elements graduating with a degree in law without attending a single class, lamented the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as it implored the Bar Council of India (BCI) to refrain from lowering the standards of entrance exams for law schools.

Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on the constitutional validity of the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. (Sunil Saxena/HT File Photo)
Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on the constitutional validity of the controversial Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. (Sunil Saxena/HT File Photo)

“Look at your entrance exams. You keep lowering your standards. You have to control quality. Don’t keep lowering the quality of entrance exams. Look at how ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) does it for Chartered Accountants. They control intake and also the quality. This is high time you should do an introspection,” a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh told BCI’s lawyer.

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The bench was emphatic that the standards of legal education would not improve until BCI, the apex regulatory body for the legal profession in India, does two things. “You need to adopt a two-pronged approach – tightening of yardsticks in exams and stricter control at entry level. You must do these two things if you want a better standard,” it told advocate SN Bhat, who represented BCI.

The court rued that there were certain states where the problem was one of plenty with the mushrooming of law colleges. “We think your problem starts at the law schools. In one state, the number runs into hundred. Where are so many law teachers available? If we may say so, most of these (schools) are fictitious,” remarked the bench.

According to the latest statistics available with the BCI, there are around 1,500 law colleges across the country. Private colleges account for almost 75% of the total number of law colleges. In August 2019, the BCI imposed a three-year moratorium on opening new law colleges, resolving it will stress on improving standards of the existing law colleges. The moratorium was however not applicable to establishing a new National Law University if a state proposed it.

As per the BCI data, there are 1.7 million registered lawyers in the country and 80,000 to one lakh new advocates get enrolled annually.

It added that there were instances of some law colleges in Andhra Pradesh running from “cowsheds and under thatches”. “There is a lot to say about the quality of law colleges...the kind of admissions they provide. There are antisocial elements taking admission in these colleges and they pass out with a degree without attending even a single day in class. This is completely diluting the quality…Person without attending classes gets a law degree…More stringent checks on law schools and more serious criteria of entry are important,” said the court.

The bench emphasised that although BCI is authorised under the law to prescribe criteria for admission to law schools and enrolment of lawyers in the country, the current situation requires an intervention by the top court.

“Prima facie, we are inclined to make comments on how to improve the system at the entry level. We can always make some recommendations to BCI on their responsibility to hold proper exams and on how to improve the system at entry level...The rigour of your bar exam must test knowledge,” underscored the bench.

It also asked BCI to consider suggestions given by senior counsel and amicus curiae KV Viswanathan on enrolment of those who are already gainfully employed in some other profession. Currently, BCI rules prohibit anybody employed in some other profession to be enrolled as a lawyer.

The court is hearing an appeal by BCI against an order of the Gujarat high court, which allowed a woman to enroll as an advocate without quitting her job through an order in November 2020. BCI argued that the decision would open floodgates for such requests although the rules specifically state that nobody can enrol as an advocate while being gainfully employed in some other job.

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