On-site inspection compulsory before every affiliation: BCI to law colleges

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has told universities that a law college's affiliation can no longer be granted, renewed or extended without inspecting it first, every time.

A July 23 circular had only ordered a one-time inspection of every college, to be completed within 6 weeks. A fresh circular, dated August 4, follows a court order as opposed to the oral remarks that prompted the July one.

On July 29, Justice Nyapathy Vijay of Andhra Pradesh High Court upheld the disaffiliation of All Saints Christian Law College, Vizag, which was found running from about 4,762 square feet, a fraction of what its sanctioned intake of 720 students required. The College had tried to accommodate the extra students by running morning and afternoon shifts. Such an arrangement was already deemed impermissible by the BCI.

The fresh circular also follows a meeting of the Standing Committee on Legal Education under the chairpersonship of retired Justice Rajendra Menon.

Beyond the inspect-before-affiliating rule, the fresh circular adds requirements the July one didn't have. Universities must now verify a college's land ownership or lease documents, its capital funds and the registration of the trust or society running it. They can no longer keep giving repeated conditional affiliation to colleges with long-standing deficiencies and inspection reports can no longer just say a college is "satisfactory". They need specific findings, measurements and dated, geo-tagged photographs, the circular states.

Universities now have 6 weeks from August 4, not from July 23, to complete the inspection and file one report.

"The present directions are intended to ensure that affiliation is not reduced to a documentary formality and that every student admitted to a law course receives legal education in an institution possessing the faculty, infrastructure, library, academic environment and facilities required under law. The object is not to disrupt genuine institutions or prejudice students, but to ensure that every law degree recognised for enrolment as an advocate is earned through real teaching, qualified full-time faculty, adequate infrastructure and meaningful practical training," the August 4 circular said.

The circulars also note that the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment protects only students already admitted under interim court orders and says that this should not be read as permission for any other college to keep admitting students while it remains non-compliant.

Approval renewals will be withheld until BCI gets satisfactory reports and action can follow against both the concerned college and the university.

[Read Circular]