Nationwide stir by Bar Council of India against government’s move to tweak legal education.
The Bar Council of India is on warpath against the proposed commission to oversee legal education and the move to allow foreign law graduates to practice in the country.
The Karnataka State Bar Council on Tuesday announced that as part of the nationwide agitation, lawyers will abstain from work in courts on July 11 and 12, if the government does not pay heed to their demands.
The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011, dictates the constitution of a seven-member national commission to take care of the legal education in the country.
“There is already a Legal Education Committee under the Bar, headed by Supreme Court judges. It is already doing a good job of manning 160 universities in the country and 920 law colleges,” said Bhoje Gowda, member of the Karnataka State Bar Council. The new commission would essentially undermine the weight of lawyers in the country, Gowda felt.
“If the commission comes into place, it will consist of members who will be nominated by the government. This is the government’s way of making sure that the power of the lawyers is reduced, but we don’t want that happening. The 14 National Law Colleges in the country are comparable to the best in the world. Why change what isn’t broken?” Gowda pointed out.
The proposed Foreign Education Bill also has the lawyers hot around their collars. “The Bill if passed will let anyone, who has passed from any law college in the world, worthy of practicing in India. Previously only students graduating from universities, that had an affiliation with the Bar Council of India, could come here and practice. We think this is a self-serving deal being done by Kapil Sibal (Human Resources minister), whose son has pursued legal studies abroad,” Gowda said.
Among other raise by the lawyers was the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2012, which they believe is detrimental to them and favours insurance companies. “A lot of Bills are merely tabled in the Parliament without any national debate. If the government does not listen to us, we plan to organise agitations and also forcibly enter Jantar Mantar before the Parliament session begins,” Gowda said.
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