HNLU says it hasn't got BCI approval for 2026-27 due to technical glitch, incorrect late fee demand

Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Nava Raipur has said that it completed its fee and documentation requirements for Bar Council of India (BCI) approval as early as December 2024 and has attributed the 2026-27 approval gap to a technical issue on BCI's own portal.

Bar & Bench had reported on August 3 that 6 NLUs, including HNLU were not on BCI's approved list of law colleges after the lapse of BCI's July 31 deadline.

In a letter to Bar and Bench, HNLU's Public Relations and Student Welfare Officer Sangeeta Madan Rasaily Mishra stated that the University's 2024 submission already met BCI's requirements for the years ahead.

"HNLU has long fulfilled the mandatory requirements of completion of the requisite documents and the fee as mandated by the BCI on 02.12.2024 which should cover the admissions up to 2027-2028," the letter said.

As per HNLU's communication with BCI, the University had sent a demand draft of ₹5,50,000 towards the application and inspection fee on December 26, 2024, which was delivered to BCI on January 1, 2025. It had also remitted a guarantee fee of ₹4,00,000, as per a letter dated February 13, 2025.

The BCI subsequently granted HNLU approval for the 2025-26 session through a letter dated September 1, 2025. In an April 27, 2026 letter to the BCI, HNLU itself sought extension of this approval to 2026-27, noting that it had "not been issued till date."

HNLU attributed the continuing gap to a technical glitch on BCI's end and said that BCI had assured the University that its technical team would resolve the issue.

A July 21 letter to the BCI said that the BCI's dashboard carried an embedded demand for a ₹4,00,000 late fee that prevented the University from completing data entry for its 2026-27 and 2027-28 applications. The University has asked BCI to reactivate the dashboard without this charge since all the requisite fees have already been paid.