Operating without Bar Council nod, MU’s Law Academy fined Rs 8 lakh

For the violations, the university has recently paid Rs 8 lakh to the BCI, said MU Pro Vice-Chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni.

At present, the University of Mumbai Law Academy has as many as 200 students, and the first batch of the five-year LLB course will graduate at the end of the academic year. (File)

THE UNIVERSITY of Mumbai Law Academy (UMLA), located at MU’s Kalina campus, has operated without approval from the Bar Council of India (BCI) from 2015, when it was established, till 2018. For the violations, the university has recently paid Rs 8 lakh to the BCI, said MU Pro Vice-Chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni.

At present, UMLA has as many as 200 students, and the first batch of the five-year LLB course will graduate at the end of the academic year.

An inspection committee of the BCI had visited UMLA and imposed a default fee while also giving it conditional approval to operate for the 2019-2020 academic year, a report submitted to the Council last year has stated.

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The report (accessed by The Indian Express), added: “It is found that the University of Mumbai Law Academy has admitted students since 2015-16 for five-year BBA LLB (Hons.) without getting approval from the Bar Council of India, which is contrary to rule 14(1) of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008.”

The report further stated that no faculty member is available to teach subjects like accounts on a regular basis, besides an honorary member of the university.

It also imposed specific conditions on UMLA, including upgrading the moot court, purchasing books worth Rs 5 lakh, installation of computers and establishing of a legal aid centre.

The matter came to light after advocate Siddharth Ingle — the president of Maharashtra Students Union — in reply to his RTI query, was told that UMLA’s recognition was pending.“Why hasn’t the university done anything to get approval for four years? It could have put at stake the degrees of several students,” he said.

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When contacted, the in charge director of UMLA, Swati Routela, expressed inability to comment citing that she was appointed to the position very recently.

“The university has paid the default fee to the BCI and expects requisite approvals soon,” said the MU Pro V-C.

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