NEW DELHI: A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court by eminent advocate and public speaker Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay for a direction to the Centre and Bar Council of India to form an expert panel to ascertain the feasibility of starting the three-year Bachelor of Law Course after 12th standard like BSc, BCom and BA courses.
The 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, Upadhyay 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," his plea said.
The petitioner, known as PIL man of India, said it is not that starting early is a sine qua non for success but it is certainly helpful for bright students.
He pointed out 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 five years LLB course to bar his progress and obscure his vision? There was none," he said.
Similarly, he said 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, his plea said.
The petitioner contended 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, making it difficult for lower as well as middle class students to pursue Bachelor of Law with such fee structure and that too for five years.
He also stated that Bachelor of Law (LLB) Course can be compared with Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) and Bachelor of Science (BSc) but not with the Bachelor of Engineering or Technology. Even if it is compared then even the Indian Institute of Technology gives a BTech degree in four years.
