BCI: Decision to scrap one-year LLM to operate from 2022-23

In a breather to law students studying in oneyear Master of law across the country, the Bar Council of India, on Thursday, informed the Supreme Court that its decision to scrap the oneyear post graduate degree course in law will come into force from the academic year 2022-23. Recording the statement by Manan Kumar Mishra, the chairman of the Bar Council of India (BCI), a bench comprising Chief Justice Sharad A. Bobde, Justice A.S. Bopanna, and Justice V. Ramasubramanian did not pass any interim order.

However, the court sought response from the BCI on a petition by the Consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) challenging the BCI’s decision to scrap the oneyear LL.M programme and derecognise foreign LL.M.

The court gave BCI four weeks’ time to respond to the petitions by the Consortium of NLUs and two law students.

BCI’s decision that the post-graduate course in law (LL.M) has to be of two years spread over four semesters triggered a storm in all the national law universities and other academic institutions imparting oneyear LL.M courses after five years’ BA LL.B.

The system of having just one year’s LL.M after five years’ BA LL.B is viewed to be disadvantageous to those who take up the study of law in three years’ course after completing graduation and then have to study for another two years for their Masters’ degree in law. The BCI’s Legal Education (Post Graduate, Doctoral, Executive, Vocational, Clinical and other Continuing Education) Rules, 2020, scrapping the oneyear LL.M course were notified in the official gazette on January 4, 2021.