In Hyderabad, the Telangana High Court recently addressed a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning law course admissions in the state. The PIL was filed by advocate A Bhaskar Reddy from Gachibowli, who asked the court to direct the Bar Council of India (BCI) to proceed with admissions for the academic year 2023-24.
The advocate also requested that the State government, the BCI, and the TS LAWCET convener follow the academic calendar strictly. This means completing counseling and admissions for LLB, LLM, and other law courses by July each year, starting with the academic year 2024-25, following the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.
L Ravichander, a senior counsel representing the BCI, informed the court that only 19 out of 32 law colleges in Telangana have received BCI accreditation. The remaining colleges have been labeled as defaulters. Notably, NALSAR University of Law and Kakatiya University Law College are among these defaulters because they have not sought formal verification from the BCI to confirm their competence in offering law courses.
Chief Justice Alok Aradhe, after hearing the case, noted that NALSAR University of Law is a prestigious institution and should not be involved in this controversy. He decided not to continue with the case and instructed the High Court Registry to assign it to another division bench with Justices Sujoy Paul and N Rajeshwar Rao. The hearing was postponed for further proceedings.
