Delhi HC asks BCI to consider increasing Delhi University LL.B. seats

The Delhi High Court on Friday resumed its hearing of the plea against the reduction of LL.B. seats in Delhi University. The Court asked the Bar Council of India (BCI) to consider DU’s representation for increasing seats in its LL.B. course..The matter was first listed before the Division Bench of Justices GS Sistani and Vinod Goel. However, Justice Sistani recused himself and said that the matter would be transferred to another bench. The matter was heard the same day by another Division Bench of Justices Sunil Gaur and C Hari Shankar..That Bench asked the BCI to consider DU’s representation, and to take a decision by the evening of June 6. The Court also asked the BCI as to why it settled for 1440 seats and not 2000, which would allow more students to get legal education..The BCI had submitted before the Bench of Justices Sistani and Goel that if it allowed the Delhi University to increase the seats in an arbitrary manner, then it would have to give the same leeway to other institutions. Ultimately, they argued, they would have no control over the number of students admitted to courses in law colleges affiliated to the BCI..The PIL was filed by Joginder Kumar Sukhija, an alumnus of Law Faculty himself, stating that the reduction in seats in the L.L.B. course would affect a large number of aspirants. In his petition, he also claimed that DU and Faculty of Law are public funded educational institutions receiving grants from the University Grants Commission. Further, by reducing the number of admissions, public money was not being put to optimum use..Delhi University had sought permission from the BCI to increase the seats, saying that it had improved the infrastructure and increased the number of teachers..The Court observed that since the BCI had not capped the seats due to lack of infrastructure, its improvement would not entitle the University to increase the number of seats..The Court allowed the University to issue a notification for admission to 1,440 seats for its law course, as done last year. That number, the Court said, would be subject to the final outcome of a plea seeking an increase to 2,310 seats, reported the New Indian Express..The matter will next be heard on June 7.