Allahabad High Court slams BCI for delaying law course approval
The Allahabad High Court has reprimanded the Bar Council of India (BCI) for delaying approval for Dr. Hari Shanker Mishra Law College to start its five-year law course. Justice Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary…
The Story in Brief
The Allahabad High Court has reprimanded the Bar Council of India (BCI) for delaying approval for Dr. Hari Shanker Mishra Law College to start its five-year law course. Justice Abdesh Kumar Chaudhary observed that delaying the process due to an inspection team's unavailability amounts to "manifest arbitrariness." The college, affiliated with Lucknow University, has been running a three-year LLB since 2012 and received a no-objection certificate from the university in 2021.
The BCI argued it had received about 1,250 similar applications, causing the delay. However, the court noted the college already passed university inspection and said the BCI cannot hide behind its own inefficiency. It ordered the council to form an inspection committee and process the application for the 2027-2028 academic session within three months. The court stressed that a regulatory body's administrative lapse should not penalise a compliant institution.
The Indian Opinion
The court's reproach of the BCI exposes a wearying pattern of regulatory tardiness. While the council cites a flood of applications, its lethargy directly harms a college already running for years. The narrative of an overburdened regulator rings hollow when a single inspection can derail an entire academic year. The real question is not the volume of work, but the council's indifference to its statutory duty. A prescribed timeline for inspection decisions, perhaps within 60 days, would cut through this excuse and force accountability where delay is now routine.
Source: barandbench.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
