E-Paper
300 aspiring lawyers still waiting
OVER 300 aspiring lawyers are still waiting for Allahabad University (AU) to fulfil its promise and start the LLB (five-year) Integrated course from the forthcoming academic session. Admission forms of these students continue to remain deposited with the varsity since June 2005. AU officials, however, seem hardly interested in speeding up the matter or seem concerned as to the effect their lackadaisical attitude may have on the future of these students.
OVER 300 aspiring lawyers are still waiting for Allahabad University (AU) to fulfil its promise and start the LLB (five-year) Integrated course from the forthcoming academic session.
Admission forms of these students continue to remain deposited with the varsity since June 2005.
AU officials, however, seem hardly interested in speeding up the matter or seem concerned as to the effect their lackadaisical attitude may have on the future of these students.
AU had announced its plans to introduce the LLB (five-year) Integrated course at its Faculty of Law from the academic session 2005-06.
AU Dean (Law) Prof HN Tiwari on June 7, 2005 had duly informed that students who had passed Intermediate or an equivalent examination and were below 21 years as on July 1, 2005 shall be eligible to appear in the Entrance test and vie for one of the 80 seats available. He had also announced that the fee fixed for the course was Rs 43,500 in the first year and Rs 39,500 every subsequent year.
The forms were then duly sold by the varsity between June 11 and June 18, 2005 at a whopping cost of Rs 750 per form. The admission test was to be conducted on July 31.
Evoking a great response, over 496 students applied for appearing in the admission test. However, citing some unavoidable reasons, AU deferred the date of the admission test to October 23, 2006.
In the meantime, AU attained the much-awaited Central status and things changed. AU suddenly had a new Executive Council and Academic Council and the university's new Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajen Harshe decided that the new Academic Council and the Executive Council should approve the new course before it could be started.
After much delay, Allahabad University authorities announced that the admission test was being postponed till the next academic session and that those students who wanted could take a refund while others could appear in the entrance test in the 2006-07 session.
This led to around 200 students opting for the refund. However, 300 others decided to wait and find their fate hanging in the balance.
Today, these students are running from pillar to post to get some sort of assurance from the authorities concerned but in vain. The varsity officials are even not able to inform them as to when the new Academic Council will take up the matter.
On being contacted, the co-ordinator of the five-year Law Course, Prof BP Singh, accepted that around 200 forms are still deposited at AU but was unable to give any information as to when the course will start.
Insiders claim that various problems exist in the way of starting the course in time. Besides the obvious shortage of teachers and infrastructure problems in the Law faculty that could lead to the Academic Council declining the permission, there is also the problem of convening the Academic Council's meeting.
Varsity sources claim that convening a meeting of the new AU Academic Council is much more difficult than convening the Executive Council.
Barring just one of the total 15 members, all EC members hail from Allahabad but AU's new Academic Council has 31 members.
Out of these 23 belong to North India including 14 from Allahabad, three from Varanasi, one each from Kanpur and Aligarh as well as one from East and North East India, four from Western India (two each from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) besides two from South India ie one each from Bangalore and Hyderabad.
And as per section 11 (3) of the University of Allahabad Act-2005, at least 25 members of the Academic Council need to be present to complete the quorum necessary for the meeting.
Sources also say that chances of an Academic Council meeting within the next one month, its members approving the course and the Executive Council too giving the go ahead to enable the start of the course from the forthcoming academic session are pretty remote.
