NLSIU, NLIU, NLUO, HNLU, TNNLU, GNLU still not on BCI's approved list of law colleges as July 31 deadline lapses

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has warned that any Centre of Legal Education (CLE) that has not completed and submitted its approval renewal application by July 31 will not be allowed to admit students or commence or continue any law course during the 2026-27 academic session..Bar & Bench had reported on July 18 that four National Law Universities (NLUs) — National Law Institute University (NLIU) Bhopal, National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru, National Law University Odisha (NLUO) Cuttack and National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) Kochi — were without current BCI approval for one or more of their courses.As per the list of approved CLEs on BCI's website, of the four NLUs, NUALS has since secured renewed approval. NLIU, NLSIU and NLUO continue to show approval gaps even after the July 31 deadline has passed.A subsequent review has found that 3 more NLUs — Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) Raipur, Tamil Nadu National Law University (TNNLU) Tiruchirappalli and Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) Gandhinagar — held BCI approval only up to the 2025-26 session..It is not yet confirmed whether these CLEs completed and finally submitted their renewal applications before the deadline.A gap on the BCI's approval list is not by itself proof that an application was not filed on time. The BCI circular notes that extension of approval is issued only after scrutiny and, where required, inspection by the competent authority.The circular was issued by BCI Additional Secretary Nalin Raj Chaturvedi and Principal Secretary Srimanto Sen. It notes that the original December 31, 2025 deadline for renewal applications was extended three times, to January 16, 2026, then March 5, 2026 and finally to July 31, 2026.It reiterates that under Rule 16(2) of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008, a CLE may apply to the BCI only after receiving the affiliation or continuation-of-affiliation order from its university and that the application must include this order for the relevant academic session.The circular also clarifies that an application is treated as submitted only once it is complete in all respects, with all mandatory documents uploaded, prescribed fees paid and final submission made on the portal within the stipulated period. Merely opening an application, creating a draft, uploading some documents or making partial payment will not count as submission, it states, adding that submitting an application or paying fees does not by itself confer approval or create a right to admit students.Every CLE, the circular says, must ensure that admissions are made only against courses, sections and intake for which valid BCI approval subsists for the 2026-27 session..[Update at August 4, 13:15] - Following publication, HNLU wrote to Bar & Bench stating that the University had submitted the renewal application form and paid the requisite fees in December 2024. As per the university, this should cover approval till the 2027-28 academic session. As per documents shared by HNLU, it sent a demand draft of ₹5,50,000/- towards the application and inspection fee on December 26, 2024, which was delivered to the BCI office on January 1, 2025. It also remitted a guarantee fee of ₹4,00,000/-.Subsequently, BCI granted HNLU approval for the 2025-26 session through a letter dated September 1, 2025. In an April 27, 2026 letter to BCI, HNLU itself sought extension of this approval to 2026-27, noting that it "has not been issued till date."Explaining why its approval status does not currently reflect on BCI's list, HNLU said that it was due to a technical glitch on BCI's end. It added that BCI had assured the university that its technical team would resolve the issue.As per HNLU, the BCI portal'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. It has since requested BCI to reactivate the dashboard without this charge since it has made all the necessary payments in time.