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ShareMumbai: The Bar Council of India (BCI) in September 2008 introduced an age limit for admissions to law courses. However, Yasmin Tavaria, 52, a practising advocate of Bombay High Court who feels one can never be too old to be a lawyer, has filed a PIL challenging BCI's decision.
Tavaria in her PIL has urged the court to direct the BCI to withdraw Rule 28 from the Bar Council of India Rules, which lays down the age bar for entry to law courses. As per the new rule adopted by the bar council, no candidate above the age of 20 would be admitted to the five-year LLB course, which students opt for after class XII. And nobody above 30 years of age can join the PG LLB course.
Tavaria, who enrolled for the three-year LLB course at the age of 42, feels "commitment to the profession and age can never be inversely related to each other and that the age of a person has no bearing on the degree of commitment with which he or she would pursue a profession."
Tavaria completed her post-graduation from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management studies in 1981 and served in a public sector company till 1997. After she gave up her job owing to personal constraints, she enrolled for a law course in 1999 and started practising as a lawyer in 2003.
Tavaria says in her PIL that by introducing age bars the BCI "is depriving deservingpersons from pursuing further education at a later stage in life which perhaps they could not do earlier due to financial or other constraints and which now they could pursue due to changed circumstances."
Tavaria said her PIL would be heard in court on March 26.
