Intricacies in Regulating Higher Legal Education and Research in India: A Critical Appraisal of the Legal Education Rules 2020

Dr. Dhanaji Jadhav, Dr. Atmaram Shelke

PDF

Published: Apr 16, 2021

Dr. Dhanaji Jadhav, Dr. Atmaram Shelke

Abstract

Legal profession is considered to be one of the noble professions of the society. The nobility of any profession sprang from its foundation of education. The standards of legal profession in India are controlled by the Bar Council of India which is an elected body of Lawyers. The Advocates Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred as Act,1961) is the foundation on the basis of which the BCI claimed its authority to control and supervise the legal profession. This Act empowers BCI with various responsibilities coupled with the power to look into election of Bar Councils, matters of disciplinary actions and issues of determining the validity of degree for enrollment. It is through section 7 (1) (h), of the Act, 1961, BCI is controls the standard of the legal profession and legal education up to graduate level through BCI Rules, 2008. Recently Bar council of India has notified new rules titled as “Bar Council of India Legal Education (Post Graduate, Doctoral, Executive, Vocational, Clinical, and other Continuing Education) Rules, 2020", hereinafter referred as Legal Education Rules, 2020.

Through Legal Education Rules 2020, the BCI is stepping in Post-Graduation Education and Research in Law. This has raised eyebrows of legal academicians in India and is criticized as an autocracy of the BCI without locus. This notification has been challenged before the Supreme Court of India by students and a consortium of National Law Universities in India.

The present article is a sincere attempt to evaluate impartially the instant notification and examine the competence, expertise, and locus of BCI stepping into Post-Graduate and Research in Law. Through instant notification, the BCI is virtually attempting to become the sole authority to regulate Post-Graduate and Research in Law in the country. Surprisingly, the BCI has scraped the One Year LL.M program and introduced the Two Year LL..M Program without consultation and thereby usurped the powers of other competent authorities in the field. The authors have substantiated the arguments by highlighting the Legal, Constitutional and Procedural irregularities in the Legal Education Rules, 2020. In addition to the appraisal of this notification authors also have tried to correlate how this attempt of BCI to re-introduce Two Year LL.M Programme in India is contrary to the global standards of legal education.

Issue

Vol. 58 No. 4 (2021): Volume 58 No. 4 (2021)

Section

Articles

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstracts

Show All Issues >

Important Links

Home

Aims and Scope

Call for Papers

Instructions for Authors

Paper Topics

Editorial Board

Ethics & Policies

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

0.2

2019CiteScore

10th percentile

Current Issue

Information

Announcements

Urgent Regarding ISSN Update

Announcement Date: April 20, 2021

Dear Authors and Researchers,
We would like to inform you that the U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress has confirmed that the correct ISSN number of the Journal Psychology and Education is ISSN 1553-6939. This ISSN is to be used instead of ISSN 0033-3077 which is the ISSN that belongs to the former title, “Psychology.” Each time a journal undergoes a major change of title a new ISSN is assigned. Psychology and Education also has been assigned a Linking ISSN (ISSN-L). The ISSN-L is available for use when there is a need to identify and link to a continuing resource without regard to format, for example in services such as OpenURL, library catalogues, search engines or knowledge bases. The next issue of Psychology and Education will be published with ISSN 1553-6969. But the previous ISSN will be also available in the ISSN Portal to retrieve the record for Psychology because it remains the identifier for the former title Psychology and the articles published under that title.

Imp. Notice

Announcement Date: January 11, 2021

Note: Dear Authors and researchers, We found that some of the organizations or individuals are giving fake acceptance letters on behalf of the journal "PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION" and they are illegally using the logo and signature of the editor. We suggest you to alert from such agents or organizations. We are not responsible for any acceptances provided by any agents regarding journal. Also journal will not take any responsibility for payments made to any such acceptances to third parties, agents or conferences.

Call for Reviewers

Announcement Date: December 23, 2020

Call for Editorial Member/ Reviewers Submitting your Application
If you would like to apply for the position of an Editorial Board Member on the journal, please contact the Editor including your CV and a brief covering letter detailing why you are a suitable candidate, to editor@psychologyandeducation.net. Your cover letter should be no longer than one page and should cover where you believe the research field is going (and the journal's place within it), as well as details of any previous relevant journal editorial and peer review management experience.

Article Sidebar

Main Article Content

Abstract

Article Details