The Kerala High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to a petition alleging that the Government Law College (GLC) at Kozhikode does not currently hold BCI approval [Muhammed Anwar Saidu v. Bar Council of India & Ors.]

Justice VG Arun directed BCI's standing counsel to get instructions on the matter expeditiously, remarking that if the college's BCI approval has indeed lapsed, it could spell trouble for many practising lawyers and serving judicial officers who graduated from GLC Kozhikode.

"This has to be corrected. Otherwise a lot of lawyers and many judicial officers will be in trouble," he orally remarked.

The petition was moved by a 2021 graduate of the 5-year integrated BA LLB course from the GLC. The issue with the GLC's BCI approval came to the petitioner's attention when he applied for accreditation in Canada as he hoped to pursue higher education and practice law in the country.

However, the National Committee on Accreditation in Canada rejected his application, stating that his law degree was not a "qualifying law degree" because the BCI approval of GLC Kozhikode expired with the intake of 2010.

According to the petitioner, the approval list on the official BCI website confirmed that the approval for the 5-year course at GLC Kozhikode was approved only up to 2011.

"After 2011, the College and the Department of Higher Education failed to gain the necessary recognition from the Bar Council of India. Despite of this, the College continued to function, conduct examinations, and the University issued the degree for the same," the petition stated.

The petitioner submitted that neither he nor any other student in the college was informed about the lapse of approval at any stage during their course.

He also argued that the Bar Council of Kerala had violated Section 24 of the Bar Council of India Act by enrolling graduates from GLC Kozhikode who were admitted after the BCI approval lapsed.

"The petitioner has invested 5 years of time, effort, and resources in pursuing the degree, only to discover the issue upon an international application. This has caused immense mental agony, financial loss, and professional setback," it was submitted.

The petitioner, therefore, sought orders from the Court to the GLC and the State government to immediately take steps to ensure that the college gets BCI approval with retrospective effect from 2011. He also sought directions to the BCI to ensure that it grants its approval expeditiously.

The petitioner was represented by advocates S Rajeev, V Vinay, MS Aneer, Sarath KP, Anilkumar Cr, KS Kiran Krishnan, Dipa V, Akash Cherian Thomas and Azad Sunil.

Standing counsel Rajit appeared for BCI.