law aspirants along with the BJP student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) laid siege at Delhi University’s law Faculty Dean RC Raina’s office on Monday in protest against halving the seats for students as per order of Bar Council of India (BCI).
However, the admissions for the same is expected to begin in this week once the university uploads the official notification for the admission process as per the new recommendations from the BCI. “The Dean showed me the BCI recommendation report even before it got uploaded on the website. He clearly said we have to accept these recommendations because as teachers we cannot do anything. But as students we are free to go to the High Court and file a PIl for the same,” said Abhinav Arora, law aspirant and ABVP member.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India has asked the Delhi University to shutdown colleges offering law courses in evening shifts.
The recommendation has been made after a committee of BCI, the apex regulatory body for legal education and legal profession in India, submitted an adverse report about the infrastructure and quality of education being imparted at the centres of DU’s law faculty.
Around 800 students are presently enrolled in the DU evening colleges offering law.
The report — which was sent to the university on August 6 — is expected to resolve a legal tangle and pave the way for admission counselling to begin at the law faculty after two postponements.
According to the new recommendations, the seats have been reduced to 1,480 from 2,310 and also asked to shut down the evening shift colleges. “Back in 1975, there were only 1,500 seats and then again in 2016, the seats have been reduced to 1,480. What difference does it makeIJ This is just going to affect those students who have come all the way to get admission into law Faculty,” Arora added.
Dean RC Raina, on the other hand, just said that they couldn’t do anything if students are protesting. However, police officials took him away from his office before anything major happened as the ABVP continued with the protest.
“I have come all the way from Bihar and left my counseling of BHU just because of DU law Faculty. But seeing all this is just making us lose hope. We will not have any other chance if we do not get here,” said Chandan Kumar, another law aspirant.
Even though a group of students had submitted an Interlocutory Application (IA) to the HC but to yield better results they all will be filing a PIl on Tuesday morning. “If we get a stay order following the PIl, then we would want our recommendations to come into practice from next academic session,” the ABVP member added.