Students aspiring to pursue law graduation for the coming academic session will now be able to apply for the admission irrespective of their age. Yes, you heard it right–the Supreme Court has stayed Bar Council of India’s (BCI’s) decision to fix upper age limit of 22 years for the five-year LLB course and 45 years for the three-year course.
Supreme Court’s Observations
A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao said three major things:
–Age restriction fixed by BCI prima facie seemed unreasonable
–Age bar would prevent students from pursuing law education
–Court will adjudicate constitutional validity of the decision and stayed its implementation till it decided the case
“It will not serve any purpose. What is big deal about fixing the age limitation.There is a demand from society (for doing away with age restriction) and you have to consider it. You go around promoting legal education and here BCI puts restrictions. We stay the decision. We appreciate the intent of BCI to catch the best talent at right age and we will examine the issue. We stay the notification of September 17, 2016 and all consequential acts taken thereof,” the court said.
Normally in cases when admission is allowed while a case is still pending in judicial forums, the court directs that the admission would be subject to the final outcome of the case. But in order to remove any uncertainty over the fate of students the court said, there admission would not be disturbed even if the BCI’s decision was declared valid.
The SC bench for now has stayed the BCI from implementing its new rule. The case has been posted for final hearing in the third week of July 2017.
