Welfare of Law Students is also a matter of Public Interest

The Bar Council of India on Friday informed the Karnataka High Court that it has set up a sub-committee that will consider the issue of whether moot courts, internships, pre- Can be relaxed in the mandatory rules made for trial preparation, etc. or alternative rules can be prepared?

Advocate Sridhar Prabhu, appearing on behalf of the council, informed the High Court that the sub-committee was also considering whether law universities could be given the freedom to make their alternative rules for the academic year 2019-20? He argued that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has mandated that all final year examinations be conducted from September 2020.

The decision is pending before the Supreme Court and the petition is likely to be heard on Monday. He said, “Suppose the Supreme Court has said that the final year examination cannot be held at all, then there will be no need to pass judgment on this petition.”

Prabhu argued that the council was a catch-22 or a situation of confusion. I have, as in “the view that there are some students who started participating in Chambers, diary making, etc. from the first year, whereas all this syllabus is scheduled for the final year.

In fact, it is also true that the students of the last semester also started attending the Chamber meeting and moot court from the beginning phase of their semester i.e. from the month of February.

A group of students says that we have already registered our presence and we cannot be placed with students who have never attended a moot court or chamber meeting. Another group of students said that we never expected such a situation to arise, so we were waiting for the second phase of the semester to complete it. ”He also contended that University Law College, Bangalore Gautham R and Krishnamurthy TK, student petitioners of K, have filed this petition for personal gain and as such the petition cannot be a public interest petition i.e. PIL.

A bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice HP Sandesh said, “Such prayers can be made in a PIL or writ petition.” As far as the institutions of the judiciary (educational) are concerned, the matter of the welfare of students of law is also a matter of public interest.

“The court has now directed the petitioners to make the Karnataka State Law University a petitioner in the petition. So that similar instructions can also be given to them. On the last hearing, the Karnataka High Court had directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to clarify whether they had the authority to relax or relax the rules?

Can this right be used to allow law universities to issue alternative guidelines instead of mandatory regulations for all final year students? So that the final year students of the five-year law course can be exempted from the moot court, internship, pre-trial preparation, etc. for the academic year 2019-20.

The bench had also said that “Today the council members can take this decision but tomorrow we do not know what will happen.” So we have to secure the future of the students. “The bench said that-” Suppose a student wants to get an education in a foreign university after completion of the course and if this degree is not recognized later If it is, then it will affect their career. ”The petition stated that Schedule II of Part IV of the Bar Council of India Rules outlines the educational standards and curriculum. Which is required to be taught in a course of legal education by a legal institution. Under Part II (B) (Part IV of the Bar Council of India Rules) under Schedule 6 entry 6 of the Rules of Legal Education states that the relevant universities/institutes have to conduct “compulsory clinical courses”.

Paper 24 under the above entry 6 deals with “Moot Court Exercise and Internship”. This is as follows- Moot Court Exercise and Internship- This paper can have three components of 30 marks each and viva of 10 marks.

(A) Moot Court (30 marks) – Each student is required to do at least three courts in a year, each with 10–10 marks. The work of the moot court is based on several problems. It is rated 5 points for written presentations and 5 points for oral advocacy or oral arguments.

(B) Following the trial in two cases, one civil and one criminal (30 marks) – Students are required to participate in two trials during the last two or three years of LLB studies. He has to maintain a record, mentioning all the steps observed during his appearance when he goes to the court during court assignment. They get thirty marks for this work.

(C) Interview technique and pre-trial preparation and internship diary (30 marks) – Each student will have to observe an interview session or conversation of two clients in the lawyer’s office / legal aid office and record all the proceedings in a diary. Which will have 15 digits