CHENNAI: If the Madras HC has its way, about 85% of 1,200 law colleges in India will have to shut down to maintain sancitity of the legal profession.
Kangaroo court menace by briefless lawyers is due to ‘letter pad’ law colleges in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh that produce law graduates in thousands, said the court, adding that the number of law colleges in India should be brought around 175 from the existing 1,200 plus as per the suggestion given by the former chairman of Bar Council of India Gopal Subramanium.
Justice N Kirubakaran, pained that two groups of lawyers were engaged recently by Sriperumpudur-based Annai Medical College  to take physical possession of the premises, said: “Law degrees in large numbers were purchased by candidates from the letter pad colleges functioning in the bordering states of TN -Karnataka and AP. These people do not practise before the court. Their motive is only to indulge in “katta panchayat” under the guise of resolving the civil disputes.”
Holding BCI responsible for aimless permissions given for new law colleges, the judge said that in 2010 itself Gopal Subramanium had stated that the necessity of law colleges in India was only 175. India at that time had only 800 colleges. However, between 2012 and 2014, the number of law colleges rose to 1,200, pointed out Justice Kirubakaran. On what basis the BCI sanctioned so many colleges, he asked, adding: “Is there any survey conducted by BCI or Union ministry of law and justice to know the actual requirement of lawyers in the society to decide about the number of law colleges, according to the demand?” Why should AP and Karnataka have 200 and 125 law colleges respectively, asked the judge, adding: “Many persons, without even being present in the colleges, are able to get law degrees in absentia and some of them are using those degrees only as a shield to hide their criminal activities and many incidents have occurred in TN in which many persons with bogus degrees are accused of so many offences and even found to be murdered.”
