B.RAMKUMAR ADITYAN Vs. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a public interest litigant, has brought to the notice of the Court a matter of considerable significance. The Annamalai University offers courses leading to bachelor and master of laws degrees, diplomas and post-graduate diplomas by the distance education mode and the petitioner complains that such courses cannot be conducted without the approval of the Bar Council of India (the BCI), which is sovereign in the field of legal education in the country.

(2.) The BCI wholeheartedly supports the petitioner and contends that its functions and, therefore, powers extend not only to recognizing centres of legal education that offer law degrees that enable the holders thereof to enrol at the bar, but also any other legal education degrees, diplomas or even certificate courses. The BCI traces the provenance of its rule-making authority to Entries 66, 77 and 78 of List I of the VII Schedule to the Constitution and says that it occupies the field completely in the realm of legal education. The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu lends its weight to the BCI by reiterating that recognizing institutions that provide legal education is the exclusive domain of the BCI.

(3.) The University Grants Commission (the UGC) is a party, and its stand is that it no longer grants recognition to open or distance education in the field of law. A recent circular is cited to draw attention to the prohibition on open and distance education in law.