Mumbai Law College Principal Raises Stink Over Bar Council's 'Unauthorised' Interference

Mumbai: The Principal of a law college in the city has approached the Law Commission of India against what he termed as 'unauthorised interference' and 'unwanted practices' by the Bar Council of India (BCI).

Rajesh Wankhede, Principal of SNDT Law School, Juhu, in a scathing letter to the Law Commission, has alleged that BCI, the apex body for legal practice and education in the country, charges huge sums of money from colleges as annual 'inspection fees' even though the actual inspections by the council are less frequent.

"The inspection fees is Rs 3.5 lakhs for the three year LLB course and Rs 3.5 lakhs for the five year BBA LLB course. This amounts to Rs 7 lakhs per year. If the inspection of the colleges has not been conducted for the last five years, the BCI charges Rs 35 lakhs for the last five years at the time of inspection," reads the letter.

When FPJ reached BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra for a response, he refused to comment.

For the past several years, the BCI's powers to regulate legal education has been a contentious issue as well as a subject of numerous litigations in courts across the country. The council has maintained that the Advocates Act 1961 gives it wide powers to prescribe curriculum, enforce standards and inspect and give recognition to law institutes, incuding colleges and universities.

Last month, the Supreme Court of India (SC) overturned an Orissa High Court (HC) judgement which had held that BCI cannot impose a condition that a person must have graduated from a recognised law college to enrol as an advocate. Earlier this year, in February, a constittuition bench of the apex court had also upheld the council's right to screen legal graduates through All India Bar Examination (AIBE) before inducting them as advocates.

Wankhede, however, maintains that the council not only lacks the legal authority but also the academic wherewithal to regulate legal education. "None of the elected members of the BCI are academicians by profession and therefore they lack the experience and knowledge to administer and run legal educational institutions. Most of them are mere law graduates having no experience in the field of education," reads the letter.

The principal demanded that a separate regulating authority be set up to govern law colleges and universities on the lines of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Medical Council (NMC), which respectively govern technical and medical education.

"The BCI has acted in an unreasonable and arbitrary manner in the conduct of inspection of individual law colleges. In this light, I request the Law Commission of India to urge the Parliament to introduce a law providing for the constitution of an independent regulatory body for legal education in India. This would bring all the unauthorised activities and the unauthorised interference in legal education by the BCI to an end," reads the letter.

Published on: Friday, July 21, 2023, 01:31 PM IST