Teach law in schools, colleges, says Kapil Sibal

Brushing aside criticism from the Bar Council of India (BCI) about the government’s move to introduce reforms in legal education, human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday his ministry was determined to bring about radical changes in the field.

The minister said that though there were some “vested interests” keen on stalling reforms, the government was determined to go ahead with the revamp.

He said the ministry was exploring the possibility of introducing law as a subject at the undergraduate level — schools and colleges — to enable a large number of young people to gain legal knowledge.

“Instead of insisting on having a system like BA, LLB, why don’t we have a BA law? There can be a doctor-lawyer or an engineer-lawyer,” he said.

“Law is a necessary element of our life and cannot be confined to law colleges alone. Every one should have some degree of knowledge of law. This will prepare legal professionals who play a decisive role not only as advocates practising in courts, but as legislators, judges, policy makers, public officials and civil society activists,” Sibal said.

Sibal’s move is based on National Knowledge Commission’s recommendations which had suggested that legal education should cater to a wider audience than only provide personnel for the purpose of administration of justice in courts.  Sibal said he was trying to evolve a consensus on the proposal. For this, he had set up a 12-member committee.