Kerala High Court: In a writ petition filed for admission to 5-year LL.B. course, Devan Ramachandran, J. directed the college and other authorities to consider the petitioner's claim resolved after Bar Council of India (‘BCI') issued a circular amending qualification for admission to 5-year LL.B. course.
The dispute arose prior to the circular when the petitioner was denied admission to 5-year LL.B. course in Sree Narayana Law College, Poothotta based on the qualification prescribed by the Bar Council of India. Earlier, Polytechnic/Diploma holders were not qualified for admission to LL.B. integrated course. Since the qualification criteria have been amended by the BCI, the dispute regarding petitioner's disqualification was eventually resolved.
Hence, the Court allowed the present petition and directed the College Authorities to consider petitioner's claim against vacant seats. The matter was subjected to directives from the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations. The Court ordered the authorities to complete the proceedings expeditiously, within a week of receipt of a copy of this judgment.
The Bar Council of India recently updated the eligibility criteria for admission to 5-year integrated LL.B. course, which was the ultimate ground for denial of petitioner's admission. BCI recently issued a circular which grants equivalency to the qualification of 3-year Diploma/Polytechnic course with that of 10+2 certificate course for admission to 5-year integrated LL.B. course.
BCI Circular
[Meharban M.H. v. State of Kerala, 2023 SCC OnLine Ker 391 decided on 5-01-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner: Advocate Varun C. Vijay and Advocate Divya Chandran
For Respondents: Advocate Rajith, Advocate Harikumar and Advocate Parvathy K.