Supreme Court issues notice in Tamil Nadu ban on establishment of private law colleges

The Supreme Court yesterday issued notice in an appeal filed by the State of Tamil Nadu against a judgment of the Madras High Court by which it had quashed the Tamil Nadu Establishment of Private Law Colleges (Prohibition) Act, 2014 (Act)..As first reported by The Hindu, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi issued notice to the respondent, Advocate’s Forum For Social Justice, but declined to stay the judgment of the Madras High Court. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Tamil Nadu along with Senior Advocate Subramonium Prasad..Tamil Nadu government had passed the Act in 2014 to prohibit establishment of private law colleges in the State. The preamble of the Act states that that the government has taken a decision to establish adequate number of government law colleges and private persons are not able to provide legal education at affordable costs to economically and socially weaker sections of the society..The Constitutionality of the Act was challenged in Madras High Court. In a judgment delivered by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan on October 26 last year, the Court struck down the Act holding that it directly impinges the fundamental right to carry on a trade, business and occupation guaranteed by Article 19(1)(g)..“The direct and inevitable effect of the present legislation is the resultant prohibition of opening of any law college for all period of future time, thus, directly impinging the rights conferred under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.”.It held that such a blanket prohibition does not even sub serve the object for which the legislation was enacted..“This is not a case where the majoritarian concept of “will of the people” would apply, as it infringes the valuable rights conferred under Part-III of the Constitution of India, which is the grundnorm. We fail to see as to how such a legislation can be saved by any endeavour to read into it what is clearly not within it, i.e., neither a restriction or regulation, but an absolute ban and that too for unlimited time period.”.Tamil Nadu has appealed against this decision in Supreme Court..Attorney General Rohatgi yesterday argued that the legislation is intended to arrest the mushrooming of private law colleges and to maintain standards in legal education. He placed reliance on a direction given by the Bar Council of India to “restrict the number of No Objection Certificates to be granted for the upcoming three years.”.He also argued that the law was a reasonable restriction and the state has only implemented the will of the people by enacting of the impugned legislation..The court issued notice to the respondent but refused to stay the Act..Tamil Nadu has gained notoriety for the lumpen elements taking over the Bar in the State. This has often led to violent protests and clashes, even within the premises of Madras High Court with the current Chief Justice even calling for CISF protection for judges. Legal experts have often cited lack of effective regulation in the legal education sector resulting in lumpen elements entering the legal profession..Read the Madras High Court judgment quashing the Act below.