No HC relief on age bar for LLB course

Author : Anshika Misra/DNA

Admissions to the three-year LLB course this year may be out of reach for those over 30 years of age. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant any relief in a PIL challenging the 30-year age bar introduced by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for the course.
The BCI, which governs standards of legal education in India, introduced a 20 years age limit for the five-year LLB course and a 30 years age bar for the three-year LLB course from this year.
Yasmin Tavaria, a city lawyer and law teacher, filed a PIL challenging the new rule. Tavaria sought a stay on the new rule stating that the BCI had not followed the mandatory condition of consulting the university. However, BCI lawyer Nitin Jamdar told the court that the move was a quality control measure to regulate the entry of persons in the legal profession.
Critics have panned BCIs move stating that there cannot be a bar on education and that several professionals enroll into a LLB course to garner legal knowledge. Tavaria sought a stay on the rule stating that colleges had to start printing their admission prospectus and if a stay was not granted then it would lead to chaos during admissions. Refusing interim relief, the HC clubbed Tavaria's petition along with another petition filed by a lady constable challenging the same rule. Both petitions will be heard in June.