Students studying in Delhi University's (DU) law centres are agitated since the Bar Council of India (BCI) said that those admitted from 2011-2012 onwards and passing out in 2013-2014 won't be enrolled as advocates.
"It's such a jolt to our career. I had joined the Delhi University Law Faculty just because of its reputation. But I hardly had any idea that its courses could not be affiliated to the Bar Council of India. Some student groups today had a talk with the college principal and the administration," Ruchika Jindal, a second year student at Law Faculty told IANS.
Despite assurances that the university will resolve the issue, more than 2,000 students have said they will protest if nothing concrete materialises.
In a letter addressed to the DU vice chancellor sent on Sep 3, the BCI had said that as DU had not applied for extension and approval of affiliation of council beyond the 2010-2011 academic year, law students admitted after 2011-2012 and who passed out from 2014-2015 academic year will not be enrolled as advocates.
Sep 22, the BCI again sent a letter mentioning typo error and said the notice is for students who passed out in 2013-2014.
It was, however, in July 2010 that the letter was first sent to DU on this matter.
"It is shocking because I have put in so much effort in this course. We took admission with high aspirations. I hope the issue is resolved soon," Madhurima Garg, a third year law student, told IANS.
Tenzing Thinley who passed out in 2013-2014, told IANS: "I hope it is just a delay of getting affiliations and nothing very major that will hamper our career."
DU law faculty head and dean Ashwani Kumar Bansal had Sep 25 replied to the BCI letter and pleaded that by citing a typographical error, it will jeopardise the careers of roughly 1,600 students who passed out this year.
Citing the history of the law faculty and its renowned alumni, DU said that they will get the affiliation before Dec 31, as per the earlier communication from the BCI.
"Now, all of a sudden the BCI cannot drop a bombshell on us," Bansal said.
Further in the letter, DU also asserted it is abiding by the BCI rules and following the Legal Education Rules, 2008. It added that it is equipped with adequate infrastructure and faculties.
However, a BCI official told IANS: "DU was given enough time to get the affiliation, still they have not done anything. The situation there is hazardous and we will take action."
Further, as per BCI rules, DU has also not got its centre inspected for a long time.
For this, each centre has to submit an application with the requisite fee of Rs.50,000 and inspection fee of Rs.1,50,000 before Dec 31.
The DU law faculty alumni boasts of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, former HRD minister Kapil Sibal, Supreme Court judge Rohington Nariman, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi and many more.
