New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Supreme Court of India seeking a direction to the Centre to set up a Legal Education Commission or Expert Committee to review the syllabus, curriculum and duration of LLB and LLM courses across the country.
The Writ Petition (Civil), filed under Article 32 of the Constitution by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, has arrayed the Union of India through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Law & Justice, the Bar Council of India, the University Grants Commission, and the Law Commission of India as respondents. The petition is drawn and filed through Advocate-on-Record Ashwani Kumar Dubey.
The petitioner contends that while the National Education Policy, 2020 promotes four-year graduation courses across professional and academic streams, the Bar Council of India has taken no steps to review the existing five-year duration of the BA-LLB and BBA-LLB courses. The petition states that the prolonged duration is disproportionate to the course material, imposes an excessive financial burden on middle- and lower-income families, and forces students to study unrelated humanities or commerce subjects before they can pursue core legal education. It draws a comparison with four-year B.Tech courses offered by the IITs, contending that a similar structure ought to be adopted for legal education.
In support of its claim of urgency, the petition refers to a public statement made by the UGC Chairman on 21.04.2024 permitting students with a four-year undergraduate degree to directly pursue a PhD or appear for NET, and contends that no corresponding review of the LLB/LLM course duration has been undertaken by the BCI despite the NEP mandate. The petition also cites the examples of the length of legal careers of senior advocates who commenced practice after completing a three-year LLB course under the earlier system.
The petitioner has stated that no similar petition has earlier been filed by him except a writ petition before the Delhi High Court, which was subsequently withdrawn, and that a similar matter, WP(C) No. 70 of 2021, remains pending. The petitioner has affirmed by accompanying affidavit that he has no personal interest, individual gain or oblique motive in filing the petition.
The petition prays that the Court direct the Centre to constitute a Legal Education Commission or Expert Committee comprising eminent educationists, jurists, retired judges, advocates and professors to review the syllabus, curriculum and duration of the LLB and LLM courses, and to pass such further directions as it deems fit to attract the best talent to the legal profession.
Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs. Union of India & Others
