BCI, the Bar Council of India has fined the the prestigious Delhi University’s law centre with Rs 30 lac and capped its total number of seats this year to around 1,000 much lesser than last year, as a consequence of default in the payment of affiliation fees and for lacking in infrastructure.
Earlier in 2014, DU law, for the first time troubled with BCI for the first time as it defaulted with the Legal Education Rules 2008.  It failed to request the BCI for inspection every 3 years, has been penalized again for the same issues after a stay of execution for the last 2 years.
Under the 2008 Rules, law colleges have to pay Rs 1.5 lac per degree course every 3 years or every 5 years, respectively, for 3-year LLB degrees and 5-year LLB degrees, so as to make sure, it does not lose the Bar Council’s affiliation.
The inspection is carried out by the Bar Council of India’s inspection committee who visits law colleges and reports on whether their infrastructure meets the minimum requirements as per the 2008 Rules, and then renews or cancels the college’ affiliation.
Prof. Ved Kumari, DU law centres dean, had earlier this year written to DU’s vice chancellor pointing out infrastructural deficiencies on campus like lack of enough space in the classrooms to allow proper seating arrangements to all students. DU admits approximately 96 law students per class section having 50 seats, resulting, in the remaining nearly 50% left to stand to attend lectures, or not attend lectures at all.
The BCI allowed the University to admit 2310 students the previous year as the university had already advertised for the seats and received applications for its intake. But, this year the BCI has capped the total number of seats at 1,440.
Kumari had, according to the Express, requests BCI to kindly waive off the penalty amount in view of the fact that the faculty is a public funded educational institution receiving grants from University Grants Commission (UGC), wherein no fund is allocated for the payment of such penalty.
