The Karnataka High Court recently directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to add more columns to the webpage reflecting the affiliation status of law colleges and universities in the country. [BMS College of Law v. Bar Council of India and Anr]Justice Suraj Govindraj observed that though a college had paid fees for extension of affiliation, the same was not reflected on the BCI website."In the present case, though the petitioner is stated to have made payment of the affiliation fees, the same is not reflected on the website. It would therefore be required for the Bar Council of India to add more columns in the said website to reflect the current status," the Court said.The Court was hearing a writ petition by BMS College of Law, Bengaluru seeking directions to BCI to update the approved list of law colleges and universities published on its website, to reflect the extension of approval of affiliation granted to it.The college had made a representation for the same to BCI on February 13. After getting no response, it approached the High Court.In December 2023, the college had made a payment to extend its affiliation with BCI from 2023-24 to 2027-28. However, the same was not reflected on the BCI website.The Court observed that if the extension details were not reflected on the BCI website, the college would suffer as any student, before joining a college, would check these details.It noted that the current website displays affiliation university, college names and place, post names, strength approval up to the year of the establishment and remarks.Since the college had paid fees for extension and the same was not reflected on the website, the Court directed BCI to add the following columns:i) the date on which an application for extension of affiliation is made,ii) the date on which the payment was made including the details thereof;iii) the initial affiliation letter issued by the Bar Council to the particular college with the PDF copy uploadediv) the approved intake of the college; andv) other and further details as the Bar Council may deem fitBMS College of Law was represented by advocate Badri Vishal.BCI was represented by advocate Shridhar Prabhu.Karnataka State Law University was represented by advocate Girish Kumar R.
TAGS: Karnataka High Court Bar Council of India BCI law colleges affiliation status website transparency
