'5 Year Duration For LL.B Course Unreasonable' : Plea In Supreme Court For 3-Year Law Degree Course After 12th Standard

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed in the Supreme Court seeks directions to have a 3-year law degree course after school. Presently, the LL.B course which the students can join after their 12th standard has a duration of 5 years. Three-year law degree course is available only for graduates.

Contending that the 5-year duration for the LL.B course is "unreasonable and irrational", the petition filed by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay sought direction to the Centre and Bar Council of India to form an Expert Committee to ascertain the feasibility of starting 3-Year Bachelor of Law course after 12th Standard like Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Art courses.

The petitioner submitted that the students can easily study 15-20 subjects in 03 years i.e. 06 semesters. Therefore, the present duration of 05 years i.e. 10 semesters for Bachelor of Law Course is unreasonable and the inordinate duration is arbitrary and irrational and hence violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, he argued.

"The undue 05 years' time is arbitrary and irrational for many reasons. Firstly, the length of time is not necessary to give a Bachelor degree, secondly, the prolonged period of 05 years is not suitable for students, thirdly, the 05 precious years is not proportional to study Law and fourthly, this puts excessive financial burden on the students to complete such a lengthy degree," the petition stated.

The petitioner pointed out that curtailing the duration to 3 years will allow students to gain additional 2 years of court practice experience. Citing the examples of Ram Jethmalani starting the law practice at the age of 18 years and Fali S Nariman completing the law degree at the age of 21 years, the petitioner asked why should the youth of the country "waste" two additional years in college rather than starting their profession in their early twenties.

"Petitioner respectfully submits that if the colleges can give Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science degree immediately after the 12th standard in 03 years, then why is it not feasible to give Bachelor of Law degree in 03 years? Students don't need a Bachelor of Arts to gain preliminary knowledge or law. Then why should Students be forced to waste 2 years obtaining it?," he asked.

The petitioner requested the Court to give an early decision since the admissions for the new courses are starting in May-June.

Case : ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY vs UNION OF INDIA | Diary No. 17329-2024