Law Minister S.P. Velumani on Wednesday introduced a Bill in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, seeking to prohibit private persons from setting up of law colleges in the State.
The Bill states that private trusts/societies are not able to provide legal education at affordable cost to the economically and socially weaker sections and also not able to continue to run the law colleges successfully.
It seeks to establish adequate number of government law colleges in a phased manner. At present, the State has seven government colleges and one private college; a school of excellence run by the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University and the national Law School in Srirangam. Two deemed universities also run law colleges.
Jurists and advocates, however, say that the effort to prevent private institutions may affect the prospects of students.
Also, the government’s role is limited in the issue of private persons setting up law colleges.
Former judge of Madras High Court K. Chandru was sceptical of the government’s effort as its role is limited to giving consent based on the rules framed by the Bar Council of India. Such a consideration will not arise if the college is started by a University, including a deemed university.
“The Minister has merely said about unaffordable fee structure. That may not be relevant as most of the national law schools are charging more than Rs. 2 lakh as annual fee,” he points out.
S. Prabhakaran, vice-chairman of the All India Bar Association and president of Tamil Nadu Advocates Association said the State should focus on enacting laws to regulate the courses offered by the colleges.