The Supreme Court of India.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: A PIL was filed on Tuesday in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre and the Bar Council of India to set up an expert committee for exploring the feasibility to have a three-year LLB course, instead of existing five-year one, after class 12.
At present, students can get admitted to a five-year integrated law course after class 12 through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), adopted by the premier National Law Universities (NLUs). Students can also pursue a three-year LLB course after graduating in any discipline.
The plea filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay said it was "seeking direction to the Centre and Bar Council of India to form an expert committee to ascertain the feasibility of starting three-year Bachelor of Law course after 12th standard like Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Commerce (B Com) and Bachelor of Art (BA) courses".
It claimed that the “prolonged period” of five years for the integrated course was 'arbitrary and irrational' as it was 'not proportional' to the subject and put an “excessive financial burden” on students.
"There are numerous examples of prodigies not being encumbered by a rigid system which focuses more on being the jack of all rather than being the master of one," the plea claimed, citing the example of former law minister Ram Jethmalani who started his law firm when he was just 17-year-old.
"Was there any five-year LLB course to bar his progress and obscure his vision? There was none. The eminent jurist and former attorney general late Fali Nariman completed law at the age of 21 years," the plea said.