BCI condemns Kerala High Court judge Justice Muhamed Mustaque for remarks about legal education; says misled by persons with vested interests

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Sunday issued a press release condemning the statements of Kerala High Court judge Justice Muhamed Mustaque about the regulation of legal education by the BCI. .The judge had recently said that the biggest tragedy in legal education was that Bar Council members dictate legal education and decide the syllabus for LLB courses in India. He had said that the Bar council is mostly comprised of litigating lawyers and their knowledge is mostly limited to the litigation side of law. This also reflects in the syllabus prescribed by the Bar Council, he had stated. The BCI rebutted the same stating that the judge has been misled by persons with vested interests and he does not have the liberty to make comments against any organisation without proper knowledge about the subject matter in question. "We are shocked to read the bizarre comments of Mr. Justice Muhamed Mustaque, a Judge of Kerala High Court about regulation of legal education by the Bar Council. Only because he is a Judge, he does not have liberty to pass any comment against anybody or any organization without having proper knowledge about it. Bar Council of India strongly condemns the irresponsible comments made by Mr. Justice Muhamed Mustaque of Kerala High Court against the Bar Councils. Justice Mustaque should have done a proper homework before choosing to make such a weird comment," the BCI said in its press statement.Justice Muhamed Mustaque appears to have been misled by some persons having vested interests or grudge against the Bar Councils, it added..The BCI said that elected representatives of Bar Councils have constituted a high-level committee to deal with the matters relating to legal education and only five of the members of that committee are elected members."The committee is headed by a former judge of Supreme Court and it has two sitting Chief Justices of High Courts as its co-chairs. Besides, there are two former Chief Justices of High Courts and eleven renowned academicians, including vice-chancellors of National Law Universities, Deans of Central Universities and other government and private law universities as it’s members apart from some noted Senior Advocates of the country. The policies and norms of legal education are decided by this high level committee only. The Hon’ble Judge should know that there are only 5 elected Members of the Bar Council in its legal education committee," it was pointed out..Further, the BCI maintained that the standard of legal education in India is second to none and only those suffering from inferiority complex makes such "irresponsible statements". "These days it has become a fashion to criticise to create a flutter in the media. Today, the standard of Legal Education in India is second to none. The people suffering from inferiority complex and who have a feeling in their minds that only a few foreign Universities are very good, make such irresponsible comments. Bar Councils are fully aware of many so-called top Universities of the world and it is also aware of the mal-practices adopted by many such Institutions," the BCI said.It also stated that there is an acute dearth of good law teachers today because the standard of LL.M., Ph.D. is not upto the mark. But LL.M and Ph.D etc. is dealt with by the universities only and not by the Bar Council, it was pointed out.The press release highlighted the recent steps taken by the BCI including the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Bar Council of England and Wales and Law Society of England and Wales to allow exchange programme for lawyers."Instead of criticising and listening to vested interests, the Hon’ble Judge Mr. Muhamed Mustaque should give his valuable suggestions and inputs to the Bar Councils to which he owes a lot having studied law in an institution approved by Bar Council of India only," the press release said..[Read Press Release]