Plea to keep legal education out of Bill

New Delhi, January 23
The Bar Council of India (BCI) today submitted a memorandum to Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal, urging him to keep the legal education out of the purview of the proposed Higher Education and Research Bill 2011.

Taking legal education away from the BCI, which was regulating it now, and bringing it under a super regulator of the HRD ministry would have an adverse impact on the autonomy of the council and the universities providing such education, the memorandum said.

BCI chairman Ashok Parija told reporters that the council and its state bodies were committed to opposing the controversial clauses of the Bill. Office bearers of the council and the state units had a meeting and resolved to prevent the government from interfering with the autonomy of the legal profession and the Advocates Act, he said.

Lekh Raj Sharma, Chairman of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, said there was no way the advocates would allow the government to tinker with the Advocates Act or facilitate the entry of foreign law firms into India.