A BCI insider told Legally India that at the BCI meetings of 22 and 23 August, as well as on last weekend’s meetings on 3 and 4 September, the BCI decided not to renew the licences of between 45 and 50 colleges.
The criteria for disqualificaiton was a “very basic minimal benchmark” said the BCI source, particularly focusing on whether faculty had the basic qualifications to teach.
Decisions on whether to disqualify a college or not were purely taken on the basis of materials submitted by the college itself.
The source added that most of India’s law colleges would now have to reapply for their license every year.
It is understood that the BCI has not reached a final decision on what will happen to students enrolled at the 50 colleges that are to be shut. The person with knowledge of the decision said: “We are in the process of identifying larger law colleges in some state which have potential to merge other law colleges into themselves.”
He also added that the requirements had been temporarily relaxed for colleges in some North Eastern states in light of the generally lower quality of legal education there, although such colleges were given an ultimatum to improve.
The BCI’s chairman and solicitor general Subramanium was not available for comment at the time of going to press. However, Legally India reported in July that he was aiming to consolidate around 700 of India’s 913 law colleges into a total of 175.
At the time of going to press Legally India was unable to obtain a list of the law colleges, although the BCI insider said that the schools did not include well-known institutions.
In future the BCI would institute an online application form for colleges to seek accreditation, which would include uploading videos of a college’s lectures to enable the BCI to take a call on the quality of teaching.
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Comments
The difference between those schools and the 50 schools that have been de-recognised is that the former enjoy political patronage and in some cases are even administered by them.
I sincerely do hope that the BCI does not discriminate when carrying out this evaluation and all and any law schools that fail to meet a rigorous criteria for being accredited are de-recognised. I know that some will say that this is playing God with the future of the students already enrolled in such institutes. But in all honesty, it is the other way around. 5 years of 'education' and then graduating at the mature age of 22-23 with no real skills ot speak off will probably do them considerably worse.
One solution would be have all the students who are enrolled at such colleges take the CLAT entrance again (even if they are above the age of 19 as they are special cases). The only problem would be whether NLSes would be able to cope with the huge influx, but desperate times call for desperate measures and the state of legal education in India (the recent increase in the number of NLSes notwithstanding) has been pathetic.
One hopes Mr. Subramaniam is able to take the fight to all quarters. Good luck!
The same people who are against foreign law schools are also against foreign law firms. This is proof of how corrupt the anti-liberalisation lobby is. Unfortunately the media and the judiciary are scared of the lawyer mafia.
It is high time the student body had more say on the governing body in all the colleges.
Kian-- honest question, could you please answer: Did the 'BCI insider' have any connection with Rainmaker? 'Yes' or 'no' will be fine.
Its a 'solemn' and 'nobel' resolve to have lesser lawyers in this country it seems. But doesnt make sense. What should be done is rather see that these 900 odd colleges have the necessary infrastructure to educate the students.
Such a source would commonly be described as someone familiar with the issue.
Are you dumb or something? he's not tryiong to reduce colleges, he is only trying to shut down the fraudulent shops that were recognised by his corrupt predecessors. Hats off to GS. You guys are mentally challenged if you oppose him on this. People like Laloo yadav have law degrees bcoz we have such crap standards.
#8: You deserve a kick in the @$$ for saying that it will be a good thing if GS goes.
All the NLU students opposing the bar exam deserve one too.
but
What about Bar Council Examination and selection of Rainmaker
Hope it is not a diversion tactics..
some step taken by present chairman is atleast making BCI proactive to do something better , otherwise it was inactive volcano ,
sorry to editor of legallyindia for my three comment on same issue.
i fully support his step along with keeping in mind the cons of this step. But there is a need for it.
It is just a starter to create a threat atmosphere..it will help their extortion business.
How they depute rainmaker then without any open tender..single party selected.
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We will of course carry an update as soon as that happens.
Best regards,
Kian
http://www.legallyindia.com/201009171312/Law-schools/bci-says-5000-students-wont-be-harmed-in-law-school-closures-list-still-not-announced