Supreme Court : BCI has no power to discipline law students, NALSAR order "bad in law"
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils have no statutory power to take disciplinary action against law students, settling a jurisdictional question that arose from the BCI's controversial move against NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana held that the Advocates Act, 1961 — the law under which the BCI is constituted — does not give the council any express or implied power to discipline law students. That authority, the court said, only arises once a graduate enrols as an advocate.
Until enrolment, the bench said, questions of a student's conduct fall exclusively within the domain of their university or educational institution, under that institution's own rules.
Applying this, the court declared the BCI Chairman's directions against NALSAR bad in law. Those directions had sought to bar the enrolment of NALSAR's 2026 graduating batch and called for an inquiry against students and faculty over their campaign opposing the CJI's invitation as chief guest at their convocation. The BCI had already withdrawn the circular before the case reached this stage.
The court declared the BCI's communication dated August 13 and all subsequent modified communications to be without authority of law, and made its earlier interim directions absolute.
The ruling came on a writ petition filed by two NALSAR alumni, Mihira Sood and another, in the case Mihira Sood v Bar Council of India.
The bench clarified that the BCI's regulatory role — prescribing and enforcing standards of legal education — remains intact and is separate from disciplinary power over individual students. Justice Bagchi added that a university retains the ability to decide whether a student should continue their legal education even in cases involving misconduct.
