77-year-old woman moves Supreme Court against Bar Council of India age criterion to study law

Keen to study law, a 77-year-old woman has approached the Supreme Court challenging the 2016 Bar Council of India rules prescribing an upper age limit of 30 for admission to LLB course.

Having been denied admission, Rajkumari Tyagi, a resident of Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh, filed a plea to intervene in a pending case on the BCI rules.

The BCI rules prescribed an upper age limit of 20 years for 5-year and 30 years for a three-year LLB course.

The top court had on March 3, 2017 stayed the BCI notification issued on September 17, 2016 in a case of Rishabh Duggal.

The plea said that Tyagi developed an interest in law after she was left alone to defend the estate of her late husband.

It claimed that the fresh rules violated Articles 14 (equality before the law), 19(1)(g) (Right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business) and 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.

She asked the court to declare that she has a fundamental right to pursue legal education in a college or institution of her choice and that the right is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.