High Court calls DU’s treatment of Faculty of Law ‘step-motherly’

They referred to news reports stating that the Bar Council’s inspection panel had recommended shutting down the Faculty if the shortcomings were not overcome.

The court expressed its ire after senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who is representing Law Faculty student Tarun Narang in the PIL, said the current infrastructure of the Faculty violated the BCI Legal Education Rules.

Luthra also said the new building proposed by DU for the Faculty would not meet education standards.

“They are proposing to shift the Faculty from the present three acre campus to a 1.5 acre building and merge all three centres into one. How can the small building accommodate 7,500 students?” Luthra said.

The bench then told the DU counsel that the university had a negative “attitude” and “seemed to treat CLC as different from the university”.

“There is step-motherly treatment towards the Faculty which is obvious,” the bench said.

The court has now asked the university to comply with the BCI’s Legal Education norms and to file a detailed reply by next week in the case.
The case will now be heard by the bench that is already hearing a PIL filed by former Law Faculty dean S N Singh regarding lack of proper facilities at CLC.

In a report submitted to the BCI in January, the inspection panel had pointed out several shortcomings in the infrastructure and faculty of the three centres of the Law Faculty.

It had also recommended that admissions of students for 2015-16 should only be done if the problems are rectified.