Delhi Bar Council writes to Bar Council of India on uncertain future of DU fresh law graduates

NEW DELHI: Worried over the uncertain fate of Delhi University's fresh law graduates, Delhi Bar Council has requested the Bar Council of India ( BCI) to review its decision barring them from getting enrolled as advocates.

In a letter addressed to BCI, Chairman of the Enrollment Committee of DBC, Ved Prakash Sharma, requested the apex regulatory body for law education in the country not to make these graduates suffer "for no fault of theirs" and permit them to be enrolled as lawyers with state bar councils.

On September 25, BCI had decided to derecognise DU's law course after it failed to seek timely extension of affiliation of its three centres, namely Campus Law Centre, Law Centre-I and Law Centre-II respectively.

"While the failure on the part of Delhi University in not applying for extension of approval of affiliation with the BCI beyond academic year 2010-11 is an act of sheer negligence and manifestation of non-seriousness, the decision of BCI to refuse enrollment as advocate to these students appears to be harsh and unintelligible," Sharma said in his letter.

He said students should have been "forewarned against taking admission in DU's law centres for its failure to seek affiliation" and in such a situation such information should have been in public domain since 2011 itself.

"We cannot afford to play with the future of thousands of candidates who have applied for enrollment as advocate and it is highly desirable that BCI permits them to get enrollment with state bar councils," the letter said.

Terming it as an "agonising situation" for students, the DBC also said that candidates graduating from DU's Law Centres are feeling "their future is jeopardised due to the unseemly standoff between Delhi University and the BCI".