Higher Education Bills leads BCI to Protest

The Union HRD Ministry plans to regulate the legal education sector through the Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011. BCI or Bar Council of India called for an All India protest on 20th January, 2012. Ashok K Parija expressed his agony over the bill being approved by the cabinet without Bar Council consultation. According to BCI, inclusion of advocates or legal education in the ambit of the proposed law is not.

The chairman of Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, Mr. Lekh Raj Sharma said that a meeting between the BCI and chairmen of all State Bar councils will take place on 23 January 2012. This meeting will decide the future of this decision. According to Sharma, the lawyers won't allow the government to pass this law since it restricts the legal sector. The BCI also said that the Advocates Act, 1961 allows the lawyers to remain independent from the government controls and now the Government wants to control them.

The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 recommends the transferring of duties from BCI and state Bar Councils to national commission constituting a few academicians. The council is strongly against this action taken by HRD Ministry trying to intrude the provisions of Advocates Act, 1961.