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Bombay HC Directs Bar Council To Aid Proposed Women’s Law College

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Poorvi Gupta
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The Bombay High Court has asserted that women’s law colleges in and around the city require assistance from the authorities. It has instructed the Bar Council of India to inspect and fulfill the formalities without any delay for a proposed women’s law college in Thane district.

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Bombay Public Trust filed the petition stating that the state government had already approved its plan to start a women’s law college in Thane, but it hadn't got the BCI nod. The Trust told the bench of justices B R Gavai and Bharati Dangre that BCI refused to conduct an inspection of its premises to certify the infrastructure and law course that it will offer to the students.

The petition said that even the university concerned had granted it the requisite permissions to start the college.

However, the BCI told the court that for inspection of the premises to happen, there are a few rules. One, that the college seeking permission and certification from BCI must either own the premises on which they propose to build the college or they must secure it through a leave and licence basis for a minimum period of 10 years.

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But in this particular case, the petitioner neither has their own premises nor do they have leave and licence basis for a minimum period of 10 years. They only have the leave and license basis until December 2018.

“In this background, we find that the approach adopted by the Bar Council of India is totally hyper technical. When the petitioner is intending of having a law college, which is only for women, rather than rendering a helping hand the Bar Council appears to be acting as a hindrance in establishment of the said college,” the bench said, Indian Express reported.

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"No doubt that the Bar Council of India would have supremacy in matters of legal education. However, at the same time, it cannot totally ignore the permission and affiliation granted by the State Government and University respectively,” the bench said

It then ordered BCI to observe the HC's direction and conduct the inspection. The bench also asked the petitioner to submit an undertaking before the court avowing to complete the construction of the college by December, 2018.

Picture credit- Deccan Chronicle

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