Written by: AADITI JATHAR LAKADE
2 min readPuneJan 15, 2012 02:36 AM IST
First published on: Jan 15, 2012 at 02:36 AM IST
Around 13,000 lawyers of Pune district will join the nationwide protest on January 20 by Bar Council of India (BCI) to oppose the inclusion of the legal profession in the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).
The lawyers say that it will take away powers of the BCI over legal education and profession and entrust it to a committee.
“The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) has received directions from the BCI about the protest,which,in turn,have been conveyed to bar associations across the state. There are instructions to not boycott work,but protest in any other form,” said advocate Anil Singh,chairman,BCMG,on Saturday.
Advocate Milind Pawar,member of privilege committee of BCMG from Pune,said that the lawyers in Pune district shall protest by sporting red badges on January 20.
The BCI has strongly opposed the inclusion of legal education under the NCHER and urged the government to remove legal profession and legal education from the ambit of the Higher Education and Research Bill,2011,introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December. “The BCI’s power to initiate disciplinary action against advocates and monitor legal education is being sought to be taken away,and being entrusted with bureaucrats,” a release from the BCI said.
Through the NCHER,the government aims at establishing a regulator that would supersede existing regulatory bodies like the Bar Council of India (BCI),National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE),the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE),except those engaged in agricultural education and research.
According to Singh,“The Bill proposes to take away duties and functions entrusted with BCI and state Bar Councils and it proposes to vest all these powers with a national commission comprising a few academicians. This will deprive advocates of a say in formulation and implementation of policies involving legal education at the professional and educational level.”
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