Plea in Supreme Court for 3-year Bachelor of Law after 12th, calls 5-year LLB course 'unreasonable'

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking a direction to the Centre and Bar Council of India to form an expert panel to ascertain the feasibility of starting the three-year Bachelor of Law Course after 12th standard like BSc, BCom and BA courses.

The present duration of five years i.e. 10 semesters for Bachelor of Law course is unreasonable, arbitrary and irrational and hence violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, it claimed.

"Had there been less time of three years for finishing the bachelor degree, the student could have gotten two undisturbed years to obtain practical knowledge in court or Law Firm or to pursue Master degree or to prepare for judicial exam," the plea said.

The petitioner said it is not that starting early is a sine qua non for success but it is certainly helpful for bright students. 

"Former law minister, Ram Jethmalani completed his Law degree at the age of 17 years and started his firm at the age of 18 years. Was there any 5 years LLB course to bar his progress and obscure his vision? There was none. The eminent jurist Fali Nariman completed law at the age of 21 years. 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 said.

The petitioner stated that it appeared that the unreasonable five years length of the law course has been set under the pressure of collage management so as to make them earn most amount of money they could from the course.

"The course fee of private law colleges and even the National Law Universities is exorbitant and lower as well as middle class students find it very difficult to pursue Bachelor of Law with such fee structure and that too for five years," the petitioner said.