The High Court of Delhi has clarified that the Bar Council of India or BCI has not dealt with the various claims made by the University of Delhi. Finally, the HC rejected BCI’s representation to increase the number of LLB seats. A bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Sunil Gaur observed after perusing the letter of BCI rejecting the DU’s representation of April 2017.
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The HC indicated that the rejection letter neither specified nor dealt with the claims of Delhi University that it had improved infrastructure. The bench also pointed that Delhi University had been inducting around 2,000 students every year since 1970. The varsity had never received any opposition or objection since 1970. However, after 30 years, BCI raised an objection on it. The bench also revealed that the lawyer’s body did not deal with the DU’s claim for the benefit that comes under the exception clause of Rule 5A of Legal Education Rules.
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The lawyer representing BCI revealed that the benefit of the exception clause was given to the University of Delhi as it can offer a total number of 1,440 seats instead of 900. However, the court did not accept the contention and announced that it would hear the arguments on June 12, 2017, regarding the reasons for rejecting the representation of Delhi University.
The court also directed the Bar Council of India or BCI to examine the DU’s claim that it had paid the fees required for inspection of its Law Faculty as per the rules. The Dean of the Law Faculty claimed that they had deposited a sum of Rs. 11.5 lakh in January 2017 for carrying out the inspection. However, the exercise had not been carried out yet, he added.
The court told the Bar Council of India or BCI that it should carry out the inspection as per rules if the varsity had already deposited the fee to carry out inspection.