Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea for a direction to the Centre and Bar Council of India to form an expert panel to ascertain the feasibility of starting a three-year Bachelor of Law Course after 12th standard like BSc, BCom and BA courses, instead of current five-year course.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala said it required a level of maturity for completing the LLB degree and in fact, current five-year, according to us, was a less period.
"We need mature people coming into the profession. This five-year course has been very beneficial," the bench observed.
The court also orally observed someone might even question three-year course, and demand permission to practice law right after High School.
The CJI pointed out during his time, it took six years for one to get law degree, three years for graduation and another three years for the LLB degree.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for PIL petitioner advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, submitted the five-year course disincentivised girls and the students from the poor strata of the society.
The bench, however said it was contrary to the situation as law colleges nowadays see 50 per cent enrolment by girl students and 70 per cent district judiciary now comprised of girls only.
The petitioner then asked the court to issue a direction to the Bar Council of India to consider his representation. The court, however, declined the request, forcing the petitioner to withdraw the petition.
In his plea, the petitioner claimed present duration of five years i.e., 10 semesters for Bachelor of Law course is unreasonable, arbitrary and irrational and hence violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, it claimed.
"Had there been less time of three years for finishing the bachelor degree, the student could have gotten two undisturbed years to obtain practical knowledge in court or Law Firm or to pursue Master degree or to prepare for judicial exam," the plea said.
The petitioner said it is not that starting early is a sine qua non for success, but it is certainly helpful for bright students.
The plea read, "Former law minister, Ram Jethmalani completed his Law degree at the age of 17 years and started his firm at the age of 18 years. Was there any 5 years LLB course to bar his progress and obscure his vision? There was none. The eminent jurist Fali Nariman completed law at the age of 21 years. There are numerous examples of prodigies not being encumbered by a rigid system which focuses more on being the jack of all rather than being the master of one".
The petitioner further stated it appeared that the unreasonable five years length of the law course has been set under the pressure of college management so as to make them earn most amount of money they could from the course.
The course fee of private law colleges and even the National Law Universities is exorbitant and lower as well as middle class students find it very difficult to pursue Bachelor of Law with such fee structure and that too for five years, the petitioner had said.