Himachal Pradesh High Court denies enrolment to man who took 3-year LL.B admission before completing degree

The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently refuse to allow enrolment of a man as a lawyer after finding that he had secured admission for three-year LL.B course before completing his graduation [Inderpal Singh v Himachal Pradesh University & Ors]. 

A Division Bench of Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma held that as per the Advocates Act and Rules of Legal Education of 2008, a person can be admitted to the three-year LL.B course only after passing the bachelor’s degree. 

“Thus, once for want of Graduation, the admission of the appellant-writ petitioner to LLB Course was bad (being ineligible) therefore, neither any locus nor any right can be said to have accrued to the appellant, an ineligible incumbent, so as to seek enrolment as an advocate, dehors the Rules,” the Court said. 

Therefore, the Bench upheld the order of a single-judge of the High Court and rejected the appeal filed by one Inderpal Singh. 

Singh told the Court that he failed to clear a paper in the final year of his undergraduate studies in 2014 and was made to reappear for the exam the next year. However, in June 2014, before clearing the failed paper, he secured admission for the three-year law course. 

He gave an undertaking to the law college that if he fails to complete his graduation, the provisional admission may be revoked. The college accepted the undertaking. 

Singh cleared the failed paper in July 27, 2015 and the LLB course in November 2017. However, the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh refused to enrol him stating that he had secured admission to law college before completing his graduation, and this was in violation of the law. 

The single-judge rejected Singh’s plea in July last year, upholding the Bar Council’s stand. 

In its judgement, the Division Bench said that permitting or granting leverage either to the candidates and/or to the institutes to resort to admissions of ineligible persons in violation of the law, would be an illegality. 

"The prescribed standards, cannot be permitted to be eased out or diluted, just to enable the appellant-writ petitioner to seek ratification or to undo his known and admitted wrongs or inactions, in facts and circumstances of the instant case,” the Court said. 

Therefore, it dismissed the plea. 

Senior Advocate Ajay Sharma and advocate Atharv Sharma appeared for appellant Inderpal Singh. 

Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh was represented by Senior Advocate Sunil Mohan Goel and advocate Raman Jamalta. 

Advocate Nitin Thakur appeared for Himachal Pradesh University. 

Advocate Arsh Chauhan represented the college where Singh studied. 

[Read Order]