The Madras High Court on Tuesday (23 March) said on a petition seeking a rule to reduce the number of new private law colleges, it is necessary to ensure that the quality of education in the name of creation of opportunities by incoming new law colleges Could not be compromised with. A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamurthy said that there is a need to pay attention to the standard of education and available infrastructure in existing law colleges.
The State Bar Council appearing before the court submitted that it is cautious and adequate steps are being taken by it. He further said that unless there is uniformity in the whole country, then it can not be corrected properly whether it is Bar Council of India or according to the orders of the court.
The court clarified that the order has not barred the Bar Council from considering appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the petitioner’s case will be heard within the next four weeks. In related news, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2020 overturned an order by the Bar Council of India (BCI) granting a three-year extension for the inauguration of new law colleges as the Indian Constitution is superseded by it. A single bench of Justice Rekha Mittal said in a judgment on 4 December 2020 that the BCI cannot impose a complete ban on the opening of new law colleges on the pretext of regulating legal education.
