The Bar Council of India (BCI) has asked the Telangana State Bar Association to not enroll the 2014-15 batch law graduates of Law University College, Kakatiya, and Osmania University Law College as advocates.
This move has caused uncertainty among law students who have been impacted by the BCI decision.
The Telangana-based universities have been penalised for not conforming to the Legal Education Rules 2008 Act requiring all colleges to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to the council as inspection fee, after which a team inspects the campus to check if the prescribed norms are not met.
Protesting the high inspection fee, the Osmania University Law College moved to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh last year. The court had put a stay on the payment of the fee.
As per the officials of the institute, the university collects Rs 350 from each student as annual fee. They say that it will be difficult for the university to pay Rs 1.5 lakh annually to the BCI.
Since the institute has acquired the courtâ??s stay against payment of fee, the officials say the directive to derecognise the institutes is not legal.
The BCI is a statutory body that regulates legal education in the country. It has been created by the Parliament of India to regulate and represent the Indian bar.
With the council derecognising the law courses of Delhi University recently, the Delhi high Court has issued a notice to the BCI and to the Delhi Bar Council in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to nullify the BCI order.
