SC Seeks BCI Stand On Age Cap For Law Courses

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Bar Council of India to clarify the Bar Council's stand on whether it is willing to withdraw the upper age limit prescribed for admission to five-year integrated law courses.

In March 2017, the apex court stayed the decision of the BCI prescribing an upper age limit of 22 years for the five-year LLB course and 45 years for the three-year course.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana directed the BCI to apprise the court of its stand on a plea challenging the age restriction.

The matter will be taken up after two weeks as the BCI sought a week to obtain instructions on the matter.

The counsel for petitioner Rishabh Duggal questioned whether the BCI's power to prescribe minimum qualifications for admission could also be used to impose an upper age limit on aspirants seeking admission to law courses.

The BCI defended the age restriction, saying, "We have imposed the upper limit because most of the five-year law courses are residential," adding that the court could determine the appropriate age limit.

The apex bar body also pointed out that students wishing to pursue legal education at a higher age could opt for the three-year law course, most of which, according to the council, are non-residential.

Justice Bagchi, however, questioned whether the residential nature of a course could form the basis for prescribing an upper age limit.

"Not all five-year law courses are residential. See Calcutta University. This is not really a criterion to determine the upper age limit," Justice Bagchi said.

The BCI said the court could pass appropriate orders on the issue.

The BCI had originally prescribed an upper age limit of 20 years for general-category candidates and 22 years for candidates belonging to SC, ST and backward communities for admission to five-year integrated law courses under Clause 28 of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008.