NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has on Monday refused to consider a PIL 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.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala opined a level of maturity was required for completing the LLB degree.
The court also felt the current five-year was a less period.
The CJI recalled during his times, it took six years for one to complete LLB degree.
"We need mature people coming into the profession. This five-year course has been very beneficial," the bench said.
The court also orally observed someone might even question three-year course and demand permission to practice law right after High School.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Upadhyay, submitted the five-year course disincentivised girls and particularly the students from the poor strata of the society.
The bench, however, pointed out the law colleges in fact recorded 50 % enrolment by girl students and 70% district judiciary now comprised of girls only.
The petitioner then asked the court to issue a direction to the Bar Council of India to consider his representation.
The court, however, declined the request, forcing the petitioner to withdraw the petition.
According to the petitioner, 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.
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