Panel for revival of directorate of legal education

A parliamentary panel has asked the Law Ministry and the Bar Council of India (BCI) to take appropriate steps for the revival of  the Directorate of Legal Education to lay down standards in law degree and other courses.

“The committee fails to comprehend why the government did not accede to the request made by the BCI for sustaining the Directorate of Legal Education. It, therefore, desires that the BCI in conjunction with the ministry should take a re-look in the matter and explore how the scheme can be revived,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Grievances, Law and Justice said.

The panel, in its 57th report tabled in Parliament recently, also expressed its disappointment that a proposal as promising as the Directorate of Legal Education launched by the BCI had to be discontinued before its valuable results could be harvested.

It is unfortunate that a scheme already effectuated had to be suspended due to shortage of funds, it said.

The BCI—a statutory body to regulate legal education as well as profession—had urged the ministry in July, 2010 to sanction Rs 56 crore for the purpose.

It had asked for disbursal of Rs 20 crore each in the first two years and then Rs 16 crore in the third year.

“The matter was examined in 2010 and due to budgetary constraints it was not possible to sanction Rs 20 crore that year. This position was intimated to the BCI,” the government responded to the committee.

The government said it would consider as and when, any request was received from the BCI to provide grant-in-aid.