Law colleges will need BCI approval every year

Under the Advocates Act,a person must have studied law in a BCI-approved institute in order to become eligible to practise law.

Sources told The Indian Express that,in an unprecedented act,the committee also turned down over half of the 90-odd requests from law colleges,including those who have recently been established,for grant of approval. This,sources said,was done as these institutes did not meet the mandatory standard for faculty.

We have decided to get strict with institutes that dont have the necessary faculty. We cant have simple law graduates teaching law to prospective law graduates, said a member of the committee.

It is learnt that while going through the documents and record submitted by the colleges,the committee came across instances of persons who had a PhD in Hindi teaching economics.

As part of its decision to make the system of grant of approval more transparent,the BCI has also decided to ask all law institutes old as well as new to apply for the same by filling a detailed form on the website of the BCI. The format of the application includes uploading a 45-minute video of a lecture at the applicant-institute,details of faculty,infrastructure,number of students,etc.

Once we finalise the format,we will fix a deadline before which the law institutes would have to apply. It will be a very detailed format, said the member.