High Court stays age bar for LLB courses

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed the State government order introducing age bar for admission to LLB courses in law colleges by amending the prospectus in accordance with the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) Legal Education Rules-2008.

Interim order

The interim order was passed on a writ petition filed by R. Ganesh Bhat, an applicant for the five-year integrated LLB course.

According to him, as per clause 28, upper age limit for admission to LLB three-year course was 30 years, while it was 20 for LLB five-year course.

The petitioner pointed out that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed clause 28 of the Legal Education Rules 2008 (relating to maximum age limit for admission to law course).

Clause withdrawn

But the Bar Council of India (BCI) withdrew the clause.

However, the Madras High Court, later, quashed the decision to withdraw the clause.

When the BCI filed a special leave petition against this verdict, it was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The petitioners pointed out that the prospectus for admission to five-year LLB and three-year LLB courses 2016-17 had not prescribed any upper age limit for admission to the law courses.

The Advocates Act only dealt with functions of the BCI for promoting legal education and laying down standards for such education. The Advocates Act did not empower the BCI to prescribe a maximum age limit for admission to LLB courses. The introduction of the requirement of maximum age limit after the entire selection process was arbitrary, petitioner contended.

Interim order was passed on a writ petition filed by R. Ganesh Bhat, an applicant for 5-year integrated LLB course.